Wallace Collection
Wallace Collection was established in 1897 from the private collection mainly created by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800–1870), who left both it and the house to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890), whose widow bequeathed the entire collection to the nation. The collection opened to permanent public view in 1900 in Hertford House and remains there to this day. A condition of the bequest was that no object should ever leave the collection, even for loan exhibitions. After the French Revolution, many wealthy families in the United Kingdom purchased many rich works of the ancient regime and indeed, the three collections of The Wallace Collection, Waddesdon Manor and The Royal Collection, all three located in the United Kingdom, forms probably the most extensive collections of French 18th-century decorative arts in the world, with the exception of the French collections of the Musée du Louvre, Château de Versailles and Mobilier National in France. In the Wallace Collection, you will be guided by experts of the museum. During this 75-minute tour, you will be able to visit paintings and drawings, furniture, ceramics, European and Oriental arms and armour, sculpture, miniatures, Medieval and Renaissance works of art, Goldsmiths’ work and many more.