Editing Wallace Collection (section)

{{Short description|Museum in London, England}}
{{for|the band|Wallace Collection (band)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox museum
 | name        = Wallace Collection
 | image       = Front entrance to the Wallace Collection, Manchester Square - geograph.org.uk - 1600012.jpg
 | caption     = Front entrance of the main building
 | established = {{Start date and age|1897|df=yes}}
 | collection  = approx. 5,500 objects displayed in 30 galleries
 | location    = [[Manchester Square]]<br />[[London]], [[WC postcode area|WC1]]<br />United Kingdom
 | map_type    = United Kingdom Central London
 | map_caption = Location within central London 
 | director    = Dr. Xavier Bray
 | coordinates = {{coord|51.5175|-0.1530|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
 | visitors    = 419,020 (2016)
 | publictransit = {{rint|london|underground}} {{lus|Bond Street}};
 | website     = {{URL|http://www.wallacecollection.org/|wallacecollection.org}}
}}

The '''Wallace Collection''' is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in [[Manchester Square]], the former [[townhouse (Great Britain)|townhouse]] of the Seymour family, [[Marquess of Hertford|Marquesses of Hertford]]. It is named after [[Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet|Sir Richard Wallace]], who built the extensive collection, along with the Marquesses of Hertford, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection features [[Fine art|fine]] and [[decorative art]]s from the 15th to the 19th centuries with important holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms and armour, [[porcelain]] and [[Old Master]] paintings arranged into 25 galleries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/london/the-wallace-collection|title=The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom – Museum Review|website=Condé Nast Traveler}}</ref> It is open to the public and entry is free.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/wallace-collection|title=Wallace Collection|website=GOV.UK|date=30 November 2016 }}</ref>

It was established in 1897 from the private collection mainly created by [[Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford]] (1800–1870), who left both it and the house to his illegitimate son Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890),<ref name="Jones">{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Jonathan |title=Sir Richard Wallace: The Collector review – glories from the age of global plunder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jun/19/sir-richard-wallace-the-collector-review-sumptuous-survey-of-art-and-opulence |access-date=22 July 2018 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=19 June 2018}}</ref> whose widow [[Julie Amelie Charlotte Castelnau]] bequeathed the entire collection to the nation.  The collection opened to permanent public view in 1900 in Hertford House, and remains there to this day. A condition of the bequest was that no object should ever leave the collection, even for loan exhibitions. However in September 2019, the board of trustees announced that they had obtained an order from the [[Charity Commission for England & Wales]] which allowed them to enter into temporary loan agreements for the first time.<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 September 2019|title=The Wallace Collection to lend works for the first time|url=https://www.wallacecollection.org/documents/191/Wallace_Collection_loans_announcement_FINAL.pdf|access-date=2021-04-26|website=The Wallace Collection}}</ref>

The United Kingdom is particularly rich in the works of the ''[[ancien régime]]'', purchased by wealthy families during the [[Biens nationaux|revolutionary sales]], held in France after the end of the [[French Revolution]].  The Wallace Collection, [[Waddesdon Manor]] and the [[Royal Collection]], all three located in the United Kingdom, are some of the largest, most important collections of French 18th-century decorative arts in the world, rivalled only by the [[Musée du Louvre]], [[Château de Versailles]] and [[Mobilier National]] in France. The Wallace Collection is a [[non-departmental public body]] and the current director is Xavier Bray.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bailey|first=Martin|date=24 September 2019|title=Where there's a will there's a way: the Wallace Collection lifts loan restrictions|url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/where-there-s-a-wallace-collection-will-there-s-a-way|access-date=2021-04-26|website=[[The Art Newspaper]]}}</ref>