The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

The Wallace Collection has mesmerised hundreds of visitors with their extensive collection of European works of art, including Manolo Blahník’s exhibition of his shoes. Jada Brookes looks at what the Wallace Collection has to offer art fans. bite exhibition Grandeur of Historical Art The 4th Marquess, who lived most of his life in Paris, used the building largely as storage for his ever-expanding art collection. When he died in 1870, his supposed illegitimate son, Richard Wallace, bought Hertford House from the 5th Marquess the following year. Having lived in Paris for most of his life with his father and grandmother, Richard moved into the property in 1875. He died in Paris in 1890 but his widow continued to live at Hertford House until she died in 1897. It is interesting to discover that although some important works of art were acquired in the 18th-century by the 1st and 2nd Marquesses of Hertford such as those of Canaletto, Reynolds, and Gainsborough, the 3rd Marquess was the first member of the family to show a real interest in art. It was perhaps through his friendship with the Prince Regent, later King George IV, that he acquired important 17th-century Dutch paint- ings, French furniture, gilt bronzes, and Sévres porcelain. This love of art was inherited by his son, the 4th Marquess, one of the greatest collectors of the 19th-century, and determined the essential character of the Wallace Collection. The 4th Marquess grew up in Paris with his mother after she separated from his father. He later lived in style in a large apartment on the Rue Laffitte and at Bagatelle, a château in the Bois de Boulogne. His collection consisted of both French and English arts and, through his enormous wealth, he was able to acquire quite a lot.