Collecting history

Fascinating exhibition at the Wallace Collection looking at the origins of the collection and the people who had collected it.

It’s quite hard to explain! Basically the collection is based on the collection of five generations of a family, the last man being Sir Richards Wallace, the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquis of Hertford who had unexpectedly inherited his father’s collection in 1870. Richard added to it and his widow left it to the nation in 1897. Things  are made more complicated as some of the characters had about four different names during their lives deepening what title that had inherited or been given. Thank goodness for the family tree at the beginning.

The most interesting section was about the 3rd Marquis whose wife was an ‘intimate friend’ of the Prince Regent and his son who became a friend of the Prince and spent time buying art with him. There was a wonderful set of Regency cartoons featuring the family with great explanations of who all the people were and what the joke was.

I also loved the displays of sections of Richard Wallace’s collection which included two still lives he commissioned of items he had bought with the items themselves arranged next to the picture in the same order.

Another nice touch was a trail around the main gallery telling which of the family had purchased various items it he collection and why these were significant purchases. Personally I would happily buy a Titian for £320!

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