The History of the Wallace Collection

The Founders

The Seymour-Conways, Marquesses of Hertford, were descended from the Edward Seymour who became Lord Protector of England in 1547 and was the brother of Queen Jane Seymour. The first two Marquesses were loyal Tory courtiers and prominent diplomats. Family property included Ragley Hall in Warwickshire (still the country seat of the Marquesses of Hertford) and extensive estates in Ireland. In 1797 the 2nd Marquess acquired the lease of Manchester House (now Hertford House).

The 3rd Marquess of Hertford

Francis Charles Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), son of the 2nd Marquess, married Maria Fagnani, the illegitimate daughter of the Marchesa Fagnani. She greatly increased the family fortunes through substantial bequests from the 4th Duke of Queensberry ('Old Q') and his associate George Selwyn who both believed that they were her father. The 3rd Marquess's later life was devoted largely to dissipation and foreign travel leading both Thackeray and Disraeli to choose him as the model for sinister characters. He was, however, a considerable connoisseur and also acted as a saleroom agent for the Prince of Wales. Both men were attracted by the luxury and refinement of eighteenth-century French art and by Dutch painting.

The 4th Marquess of Hertford

Richard Seymour-Conway (1800-70), son of the 3rd Marquess, was brought up in Paris by his mother, but came to England in 1816. By 1835, when he purchased the château of Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne, he had determined to forego any public duties and to settle in Paris. He then lived mostly in a large apartment on the rue Laffitte (he never married). Witty and intelligent, as well as one of the richest men in Europe, he became friendly with Napoleon III, but a neurotic side to his personality led him to prefer a reclusive life.
The last thirty years of the 4th Marquess's life were devoted to collecting works of art. He bought Dutch paintings (including Hals's The Laughing Cavalier), many superb old masters and most of the early nineteenth-century French and English paintings now at Hertford House. Like his father, he was attracted by the superb craftsmanship of the ancien régime but he acquired a wider range of objects and on a far larger scale. In his last decade he acquired the important collection of Oriental arms and armour. He died at Bagatelle in August 1870 shortly before the French defeat at Sedan, which brought the Second Empire to an end.

Sir Richard and Lady Wallace

Richard Jackson (1818-90), the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess of Hertford and Mrs Agnes Jackson, was raised in Paris by his grandmother from the age of six. The 4th Marquess never acknowledged his paternity, and in 1842 Wallace took his mother's maiden name. In 1870 he inherited his father's collection, the château of Bagatelle and the apartment in the rue Laffitte and the estates in Ireland (the Marquisate was inherited by a second cousin). Wallace won a considerable reputation through charitable works and gifts to humanitarian causes. He was made a baronet in 1871, just after he had married his mistress, Julie Castelnau, by whom he had a son already 30 years old.

In 1872 he took up residence in London, bringing with him from Paris many of his finest works of art. Unlike his father, Wallace took an interest in the responsibilities that his wealth brought him, particularly in Ireland. As secretary and agent to the 4th Marquess he had become a knowledgeable connoisseur. Although his taste in paintings, furniture and porcelain was similar to that of his father, he showed more independence in his passion for medieval and Renaissance works of art. In 1871 he purchased the collections formed by the comte de Nieuwerkerke, Napoleon III's Director of Fine Arts, and also bought a selection of the armoury collected by Sir Samuel Meyrick; in 1872 he acquired the vicomte de Tauzia's collection. He bought very few works of art in the last fifteen years of his life. After the death of his son in 1887 he returned alone to Bagatelle where he died three years later in the same room as his father.

In 1890 Sir Richard Wallace bequeathed all his property to Lady Wallace (1818-97) . It was almost certainly the loyal desire to fulfil her husband's wishes that led her to leave the collection at Hertford House to the nation on her death. There were still many superb pieces at the apartment in the rue Laffitte and at Bagatelle. Lady Wallace bequeathed these to her secretary, John Murray Scott (1847-1912), who had been her principal adviser since Wallace's death. On his death he left the collection at the rue Laffitte apartment to his friend Lady Sackville of Knole. She sold this en bloc to a Parisian dealer and works of art from this part of the great collection formed by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace can now be found in museums and private collections throughout the world.

Hertford House

Hertford House was built as Manchester House in 1776-88 for the 4th Duke of Manchester, and was then much smaller than it is today. The house was leased as the French Embassy in 1836-50. After 1850, under the 4th Marquess, it became little more than a store for his ever-growing collection. Major alterations, including purpose-built top-lit display galleries on the first floor, were made for Wallace in 1872-5. In 1897-1900 the house was converted into a public museum.

Ragley Hall is the present-day country seat of the Hertford family.