In this guest post, Margaret Doherty describes the private passions of London’s great collectors, ranging from weird and wonderful to classical and modern. Entry is free of charge at all the collections.
The Wellcome Collection
Prosethic by mr hyde
Henry Wellcome arrived from America in 1880 and with old college friend and fellow pharmaceutical salesman Silas Burroughs established Burroughs Wellcome & Co in London the same year. With their innovative products like the ‘tabloid’ (until then medicines had only been available as liquids or powders, not in tablet form) and new marketing methods such as celebrity endorsements and slick advertising it soon became a hugely successful multinational company.
But it was Henry’s childhood in America and his early years travelling the world on research and business that fostered his interest in other cultures. During his years in London he was also something of a socialite, mixing with many of the famous explorers and travellers of the day – Scott of the Antarctic was just one of his many famous customers. As his wealth increased his philanthropic and personal interests such as medical research, anthropology and archaeology could be properly indulged. He collected over a million medically related objects of which the Medicine Man exhibition at the Wellcome Collection displays a fascinating and diverse selection of around 500 items from this vast number including Napoleon’s toothbrush, Darwin’s walking stick and George III’s hair. There are delicate Chinese diagnostic dolls, early artificial limbs and surgical instruments to strike terror in the strongest constitution.
But above all, what this collection shows is that the human condition, its fears and concerns with health and well-being, have changed little over the centuries. 4th-2nd Century BC Etruscan terracotta votive offerings reveal that they too were worried about hair-loss and sought a remedy. Don’t forget to check out some of the cabinets filled with other ‘medical’ items including a small Rembrandt etching of an itinerant street hawker selling medicines (1635) and a satirical aquatint by Goya of an ass (physician) searching in vain for the pulse of his long-dead patient.
Sir John Soane’s Museum
Sir Johm Soane’s dressing room by Martin Charles
This museum was also the home of Sir John Soane, one of England’s greatest architects, who wanted his collection to educate and inspire both ‘Amateurs and Students in Painting, Architecture and Sculpture’ and on his instructions has largely been left as it was at his death in 1837. The larger, elegant dimensions of the dining room and library give way to his surprisingly tiny study where he worked at a small table by the window. It is painted in Pompeian red thought to be inspired by a fragment of wall plaster he found when visiting the excavations at Pompeii and like much of the house it is full of antique marble fragments reflecting his love of architectural detail and fine carving.
With so many objects on display Soane maximized the feeling of light and space throughout the house with strategically placed mirrors, domes and skylights. The Picture Room, designed by Soane in 1824 when he was 71, is a must see. The walls are what he called ‘moveable planes’, a number of hinged screens that hold over 100 pictures and use the best quality materials including brass and mahogany inlaid with ebony. On the ‘outer’ walls are the celebrated Hogarth series A Rake’s Progress and his political satire An Election. Inside the screens are Turner watercolors, Piranesi drawings and many of Soane’s own building designs executed by Joseph Gandy. Other treasures in the house include paintings by Canaletto, the sarcophagus of Seti I (1303-1290 BC) from the Valley of the Kings and a portrait of Soane by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Visitor numbers are controlled so you may have to queue outside for your turn to enter. The first Tuesday evening of every month has a candlelight opening from 6-9pm which is very popular so expect to queue.
The Wallace Collection
Wallace Collection courtyard by maong
In a quiet square just off the bustle of Oxford Street lies one of London’s great treasures. The Wallace Collection contains works of art collected in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the son of the 4th Marquess, bequeathed to the British nation by Sir Richard’s widow, Lady Wallace, in 1897.
The collection of fine and decorative arts includes eighteenth century French paintings, furniture, and porcelain as well as a wealth of European and oriental objects housed in Hertford House, the main London townhouse of its former owners. Highlights include the work of Old Masters such as Titian, Rembrandt, Frans Hals The Laughing Cavalier and The Rainbow Landscape by Rubens as well as work by Fragonard, Boucher and beautiful miniatures. Downstairs the arms and armour section is a real contrast to the delicate and romantic works that fill the upper rooms.
Try and catch a free public tour held at 11.30am on days when there isn’t a special themed talk programmed.
