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Wallace Collection Review

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Wallace Collection

Address: Hertford House, Manchester Sq., Marylebone, London, W1U 3BN | Map It
Phone: 020/7563-9500
www.wallacecollection.org

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: Regent's Park and Hampstead

Write a review | Avg. member rating: 5.0/5

Fodor's Review:

Assembled by four generations of marquesses of Hertford and given to the nation by the widow of Sir Richard Wallace, illegitimate son of the fourth, this collection of art and artifacts is important, exciting, undervisited—and free. As at the Frick Collection in New York, Hertford House itself is part of the show: the fine late-18th-century mansion, built for the Duke of Manchester, contains a basement floor with educational activities, several galleries, and a courtyard covered by a glass roof, with the upscale Wallace Restaurant.

The first marquess was a patron of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the second bought Hertford House, the third—a flamboyant socialite—favored Sèvres porcelain and 17th-century Dutch painting; but it was the eccentric fourth marquess who, from his self-imposed exile in Paris, really built the collection, snapping up Bouchers, Fragonards, Watteaus, and Lancrets for a song (the French Revolution having rendered them dangerously unfashionable), augmenting these with furniture and sculpture. Richard Wallace continued acquiring treasures after his father's death, scouring Italy for majolica and Renaissance gold, then moving most of it to London. Look for Rembrandt's portrait of his son, the Rubens landscape, Gainsborough and Romney portraits, the Van Dycks and Canalettos, the French rooms, and of course the porcelain. The highlight is Fragonard's The Swing, which conjures up the 18th century's let-them-eat-cake frivolity better than any other painting around. Don't forget to smile back at Frans Hals's Laughing Cavalier in the Great Gallery or pay your respects to Thomas Sully's enchanting Queen Victoria, which resides in a rouge-pink salon (just to the right of the main entrance).

Cost: Free
Open: Daily 10-5
Tube: Bond St.

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Member Reviews and Ratings

Reviewed by bachslunch from US on 4/6/08
Small but sumptuous museum in a former residence, along the lines of Boston's Gardner Museum. Lots of paintings (including a few must-sees), plenty of armor and weaponry, also sculpture, miniatures, furniture, clocks, glassware, porcelain, etc. Definitely worth a visit, and it's free.