London: Wallace Collection private art collection

Our last sightseeing visit in London was The Wallace Collection in Mayfair.  This magnificent art collection was an impressive way to finish up.   We arrived about an hour before closing so I didn't have much time to stop and read the details.  The rooms were so beautifully designed with wallpapers, chandeliers, fireplaces and ornaments.

The Wallace Collection was the art collection of Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890), inherited from his likely father the 4th Marquess of Hertford.  The latter was among the wealthiest men in Europe thanks to many properties throughout England and Ireland.  The Collection was started by the 1st Marquess of Hertford, continued by the 2nd and 3rd but much of it was collected by the 4th Marquess who lived in Paris for most of his life.  Richard continued to add to the Collection.  After his death, his widow bequeathed his collection to the nation in her will.  And so today we are able to see amazing art in an elegant 18th Century House for free.

We didn't have a map or the app so we just walked through doors at random and made our way around with only a little information from signage at the doors to each room.

We started in the ground floor.  One thing that struck us about the house was the stylish wallpapers in each room.  Most rooms also had ornate fireplaces and elegant chairs.  They managed to be both vintage and boldly modern.  The red walls in the Back State Rooms was a fitting background for the gilded Rococo furniture favoured by France's King Louis XV (1715-1774) and his mistress, Madame de Pompadour.  The paintings of hunting scenes with dead animals were quite disturbing.

In the Dining Room I admired this bust of Madame Victoire de France, the daughter of King Louis XV which was framed by fine gold drapes.  In this photo you can see the Restaurant and Cafe in a courtyard in the middle of the house.  We would have liked to go there if we had arrived earlier.

 

The dimly lit Sixteenth Century Gallery and the Smoking Room had an extensive collection of Medieval and Renaissance art.  Many display cabinets of plaques, medals, religious icons and crockery were to see under the paintings on the wall.  This wee nook, displaying the statue of Love Triumphant, was lined with 19th Century Turkish-inspired tiles,  This gives a glimpse of when the Smoking Room was lined with similar tiles that were fashionable when it was renovated in the 1870s.

Upstairs we saw the bold blue walled East Galleries with European artwork.

This Dutch painting is A Woman Peeling Apples by Pieter de Hooch.  It humanises these Dutch masters to see that women centuries ago were sitting peeling apples and giving some peel to their child just like I do.  But I am glad that children no longer look so uncomfortable in stiff adult clothes.

More Dutch Masters, including a self portrait of Rembrandt, bottom centre. 

The East Drawing Room had rich red walls and more Old Dutch Masters.  These included Antwerp artists such as Reubens.

With all the different coloured rooms, I loved the views through all the doorways. 

The Small Drawing Room had a lot of 18th Century French art.  You can see here how the rooms have plenty of space for visitors to walk through.  Some of the pictures of the rooms in Richard Wallace's day show far more crowded rooms.

 

It was fascinating to see two of a set of 18th Century Perpetual Almanacs (or calendars) that were made for King Louis XV.  They are enamel with gold frames and feature January to March amd April to June.  Enamel plaques display the months,  Zodiac signs, phases of the moon, days of the week, dates and saints days.  Imagine what they would have thought of digital displays!

The green walled Large Drawing Room was used for entertaining.  It featured monumental Boulle furniture and large Dutch paintings.

 

This was probably my favourite room because I loved the gorgeous green walls and the enormous Londonderry bookcase.

The adjoining Oval Drawing Room was also used when entertaining.  The desk is a slightly simplified version of the roll-top desk made for Louis XV and delivered to Versailles in 1769.

Peeking through a doorway to the Study.  Underneath the Jean-Honoré Fragonard paintings is a fall front desk, folded away neatly.  It is far more discreet than the desk in the Oval Drawing Room.

The Study was very elegant with ethereal romantic French paintings.

The details of this mantel clock are so impressive. It features gilt figures of King Louis XVII dressed as a Roman general listening to Minerva, the Roman Goddess of Wisdom.  Ironic as he was unable to prevent the French Revolution!

The West Room displayed splendid 18th Century English portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds.

The West Gallery I has stunning landscapes of Venice by Canaletto and Guardi.  They were acquired by the first Marquess on a visit to Italy. 

The purple-walled West Gallery II had plenty of lovely French and British painting.  The middle one here is by Delacroix.  In the foreground is a display cabinet with covers over its exhibits.  I assume this is for conservation purposes but it made it feel slightly naughty to peel back the covers as if peeking at the forbidden.

This large painting, Francesca da Rimini, by Ary Scheffer takes pride of place in the West Gallery III.  It is a stunning painting of Francesca from Dantes' Inferno with her lover Paolo, as they are condemned with other lustful to the darkness of the second circle of Hell, watched by Dante and his guide Virgil.  It is all the more striking for the ornate gilt frame which is an artwork in itself.

Finally we came across the Great Gallery which was the end of the rooms of 17th to 19th Century European paintings and sculpture.  It included some great artists such as Reubins, Rembrandt and Van Dyck.

The red walls emphasised its grandeur.  Here we see the middle painting is by van der Velde the Younger, above it is a der Ring and either side are Rembrandts.  The pictures are arranged out equisitely like also an artwork in itself.

And here is another Canaletto painting of Venice in yet another grand frame.

I loved these round seats that seem to encourage admiring the artwork rather than chatting to your neighbour.  So much art to love and yet by the Great Gallery we were at the stage where we had seen so much that we were tiring.

We  walked through the Armoury with many suits of armour, swords and other weapons of war. 

This armour display of the rider on the horse was particularly impressive.  

I could not help by wonder if you owned all that armour if you would try on the armour and maybe even invite over a friend (if you could not convince your wife to join in) and get them to try on the armour as well so you could play with the weapons.

Lastly we saw a temporary exhibition: "Turner and Bonington: Watercolours from the Wallace Collection" in the Housekeepers Room and a quick flick through the Gift Shop.  Then we were back at the Entrance Hall and it was time to leave because they were locking up fo the night.

This collage shows a few more details from the Collection.  I missed some of the main attractions but really loved some that were not necesarily the stars of the show.  One of the joys of going to a gallery with no map or informatin is that you miss some stars and enjoy some more obscure works.  You go with your gut.  After all, though all signs point to the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and it feels like a must see I wonder if it would be a favourite pictures without all the prompting.

We left the magnificent building with its amazing collection and found ourselves Manchester Square in the darkening evening, inspecting our Google Maps to try and find a route to the bus that might go past somewhere to eat.   You can read more interesting information in this article with "10 reasons why you should visit the Wallace Collection."