The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

Collection he allace TW bite exhibition O ne of the beauties of central London is the reservation of his- torical heritages like the Bank of England, Somerset House, The British Museum, Monument to the Great Fire of London, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Royal Exchange, and Hertford House which holds the Wallace Collection. This national museum dis- plays the wonderful works of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess. The property bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Richard’s widow, Lady Wallace in 1897, the Wallace Collection presents its outstanding collections in a sumptuous but approachable manner which is said to be an essential part of its charm. Here you will find an outstanding ar- ray of 18th-century French art, many important 17th and 19th-century paintings, medieval and Renaissance works of art and one of the finest collections of princely arms and armour in Britain. Before it became a national treasure and opened its doors to the public as a museum in 1900, Hertford House was first owned by the 2nd Marquess of Hertford who bought the leasehold of the building in 1797. His wife was a great hostess, and in the first decades of the 19th-century, the house was much visited by fashionable London society. The 3rd Marquess pre- ferred to live at his other London residences, Dorchester House and St Dunstan’s Villa.

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