WALLACE COLLECTION

A tour round the Wallace Collection is a treat for the connoisseur of art and for those who simply want to see some magnificent pictures by the Old Masters, presented in a stylish setting.

It’s a ‘jewel-box’ of a museum where every room contains works of art of the very highest quality. Located in an historic London town house, the collection comprises the collection of the Marquesses of Hertford which they acquired in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Wallace is probably best known for its paintings by Titian, Rembrandt, Franz Hals and Velázquez, for its superb collections of eighteenth-century French paintings and for the French porcelain, furniture and gold boxes of the same period — which is probably the best to be found anywhere outside France. But its 5,500 pieces also includes one of the finest groups of princely arms and armour in Europe alongside splendid medieval and Renaissance objects, including Limoges enamels, glass and bronzes. At every turn in the Wallace, one comes face to face with famous paintings: there are two Titians, five Rembrandts, nine Rubenses, four Van Dycks, eight Canalettos , two Velazquez, works by Gainsborough, Murillo, Cuyp, Jan Steen, Reynolds, Watteau and Boucher – and, of course, the world-famous ‘Laughing Cavalier’. It will be my pleasure to introduce you to this inspiring and memorable collection of fine art.