An introduction to the Wallace Collection by Dr Xavier Bray, Director

The Wallace Collection is an internationally outstanding collection which contains unsurpassed masterpieces of paintings, sculpture, furniture, arms and armour and porcelain. It is one of the finest and most celebrated collections in the world. It is free and open daily.

Built over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the collection was given to the British Nation in 1897, so that it could be kept together and enjoyed by generations of visitors. It was an astonishing bequest and one of the greatest gifts of art works ever to be transferred into public ownership.

Today, our job is to maintain, research, and inspire the public to love and understand the Collection.