Dr Xavier Bray

One of my first endeavours as Director was to find out as much as possible about Sir Richard Wallace. Who was this British born and French educated man, said to be the illegitimate son of 4th Marquess of Hertford? What was his role in the formation of the collection and why is The Wallace Collection named after him and not after the 4th Marquess of Hertford? In this lecture I will set out to reveal what I have since discovered and why he has informed many of my ambitions for the future of The Wallace Collection.

Ian Wardropper

An 1870 Mellon Bank report on Henry Clay Frick’s coking operation in Connelsville, Pennsylvania described him as “may be a little too enthusiastic about pictures, but not enough to hurt.” By the time his Manhattan mansion opened in 1914 this early enthusiasm became a disciplined passion, as he assembled one of the finest collections of Old Master paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts in the world. This lecture traces his trajectory as a collector and the legacy of the institution he established.