The Wallace Collection

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The Wallace Collection is both a national museum and the finest private collection of art ever assembled by one family. It was bequeathed to the nation in 1897 by Lady Wallace, widow of Sir Richard Wallace, the illegitimate son of the fourth Marquess of Hertford. The fabulous riches of the third and fourth Marquesses enabled them to buy exactly as their discriminationg taste prompted, resulting in an astonishing array of treasures. There are masterpieces from the medieval and Renaissance periods, fine Italian, Dutch, Spanish and English paintings, and a splendid Armoury. However, it is renowned above all for one of the best collections of French 18th-centure pictures and furniture from the pre-Revolutionary Royal collection: paintings by Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard are amongst fine miniatures, Sèvres porcelain, gold boxes, mantel clocks and Louis XV furniture. This is a completely new and updated survey of this extraordinarily rich collection, with full colour reproductions and a fascinating text on its history.