The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection Explore one of the most significant collections of European fine and decorative arts in the world. Entry to our permanent collection is always free.

The Wallace Collection is a national museum in an historic London town house. In 25 galleries are unsurpassed displays of French 18th-century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world class armoury.

05/09/2026

The commanding brilliance of Clementine Churchill

A trusted adviser to her husband Winston, Clementine helped strengthen Britain’s relationship with the United States, championed the Allied cause on both sides of the Atlantic and became a powerful public voice for wartime Britain.

Our Director of Collections and Research, Dr Alison Smith, looks at the humanitarian work coordinated by Clementine to raise sums for Soviet hospitals devastated by the N**i invasion in our display, The Wallace Collection at War.

Learn more about the invaluable role Clementine played as her husband’s ‘rock’ – and consequently in world history – in our talk by Sonia Purnell: ‘Churchill’s Wife: Clementine and Her Extraordinary Unsung Role.’

🎟️ Book your place now: https://www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/events/churchills-wife-clementine-and-her-extraordinary-unsung-role/

🌟 Churchill’s Wife: Clementine and Her Extraordinary Unsung Role
🗓️ Monday 14 September
🕰️18.30–19.30
👉 At the museum and online

This Churchill painting vanished during the Second World War - before being bought back by the original owners. Winston ...
03/09/2026

This Churchill painting vanished during the Second World War - before being bought back by the original owners.

Winston Churchill completed ‘La Dragonnière, Cap Martin’ in 1937, during a visit to the villa of the D’Estainville family on the French Riviera, two years before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Churchill gave the painting to the family that graciously hosted him, but when war came, the painting disappeared.

How it came to be lost has been the subject of mystery and intrigue for nearly 90 years, and its display in our exhibition prompted The Art Newspaper to re-examine its whereabouts during the tumultuous war years.

While we do not know how he acquired it, the painting was exhibited by the corrupt Paris art dealer and N**i collaborator Martin Fabiani’s Paris gallery in January 1945, just months after the liberation of the city.

On seeing the painting in Paris, Pablo Picasso reportedly remarked that if Churchill were a professional painter, 'he would have no trouble earning a good living.'

Astonishingly, and seemingly by chance, the painting was later spotted at auction at Sotheby's in 1961 by none other than the D'Estainville's daughter, Anne-Marie Oppenheim, who went on to buy the painting for the relatively modest sum of £500. After 24 years, the painting was back in the hands of its original owners.

See it for yourself at Winston Churchill: The Painter, until 29 November, and read more about the extraordinary history of this painting: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/09/02/a-churchill-painting-that-mysteriously-fell-into-the-hands-of-a-nazi-collaborator-is-on-show-in-london

Research by journalist and art historian Martin Bailey and art historian Emily Esser.

🖼️ Sir Winston Churchill, La Dragonnière, Cap Martin C267, 1930s. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Photograph by Howard Agriesti

🐾'We may be more famous for developing landscape and portraiture, but we clearly possess — most markedly from the 17th c...
26/08/2026

🐾'We may be more famous for developing landscape and portraiture, but we clearly possess — most markedly from the 17th century on — another national passion: painting our dogs.'

This International Dog Day, we pay homage to the over 900 dogs depicted in our collection.

Curled up on laps, poised at their sitter's side or backs arched and ready to pounce, you can find these faithful companions throughout the museum.

Our 2023 exhibition, 'Portraits of Dogs', celebrated the British obsession with our dogs and how they have inspired generations of artists, including Thomas Gainsborough's cross-bred mutts, Lucian Freud's slimline whippets and David Hockney's portly dachshunds.

Look out for all the dogs in our collection the next time you visit and see how many you can find.

Plan your visit this Bank Holiday weekend: https://www.wallacecollection.org/

🦴Joshua Reynolds, Miss Nelly O'Brien, c. 1762–64
🦴Camille Roqueplan, A Sentimental Conversation, 1843
🦴Alexandre-François Desportes, Dogs, Dead Game and Fruit, 1751
🦴Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita), 1781
🦴Gabriel Metsu, The Sleeping Sportsman, c. 1658-60
🦴 Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Souvenir, c. 1776–8

Take a trail through the rolling hills, golden fields, dense forests and winding rivers of French landscape painting wit...
20/08/2026

Take a trail through the rolling hills, golden fields, dense forests and winding rivers of French landscape painting with us.

French landscape painting underwent a transformation between the 18th and 19th centuries, evolving from nostalgic and pastoral visions towards the direct observation of nature. Artists began to capture recognisable landscapes with a new immediacy and realism.

The beginnings of this shift can be seen in the early 19th-century work of Jules Dupré. His smaller-scale paintings depict intimate, familiar scenes in which the landscape is not idealised. Working indoors from sketches, Dupré brought a sense of realism and immediacy to his paintings through his looser handling of paint.

Born and brought up in France, Dupré had no formal art education. Instead, from the age of twelve, he worked as a porcelain painter in a factory. At the age of twenty, he came to England, where he was influenced by John Constable, capturing the interplay of sea, sky and land

After first exhibiting his work, Dupré rapidly gained national recognition, becoming a key member of the Barbizon School of painters which included Rousseau, Degas, Manet and Daubigny.

Explore how French painters embraced their native landscape with remarkable enthusiasm and imagination in our online course, Painting France.

Painting France
Online course
Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 September, 18.00–20.00 BST

🎟️ Book now: https://www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/events/painting-france/

Jules Dupré, Crossing the Bridge, 1838

'See Winston Churchill’s paintings and understand the man'Journey through Winston Churchill's life - from the azure wate...
17/08/2026

'See Winston Churchill’s paintings and understand the man'

Journey through Winston Churchill's life - from the azure waters of the French Riviera to sun-drenched Morocco, from the grand halls of Blenheim Palace to the canals of Venice - and discover a new side to the great statesman. These were places Churchill loved to stay, and painting was, for him, a 'spur to travel.'

Don't miss our ★★★★ show and this rare insight into one of Britain's most celebrated figures.

Winston Churchill: The Painter tells the story of Churchill's artistic development, his friendships with artists and camaraderie with Presidents, and the fascinating - and often humorous - personal details that help understand the man behind the paintings.

Beyond politics, diplomacy and history was a man who found solace, purpose and joy through painting.

Experience the joie de vivre and book your tickets now to see this landmark exhibition. ⁠
⁠
🎟️Book your tickets now: https://www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/winston-churchill-the-painter/
⁠
Winston Churchill: The Painter⁠
Until 29 November

📷️ © Daria Agafonova Photography

🎨 Sir Winston Churchill, La Dragonnière, Cap Martin C267, 1930s. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Photograph by Howard Agriesti. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd⁠
🎨 Sir Winston Churchill, Cannes Harbour at Sunset C311, 1930s..Churchill Chattels Trust. © Churchill Heritage Ltd. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd.
🎨 Sir Winston Churchill, Venice, 1951, Heritage Collections, UK Parliament © Churchill Heritage Ltd
🎨Sir Winston Churchill, Marrakech, 1935–6, Collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Gift of the Beaverbrook Foundation. © Churchill Heritage Ltd
🎨 Sir Winston Churchill, The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque C381, 1943. Private Collection. © Churchill Heritage Ltd
🎨Sir Winston Churchill, Les Zoraïdes, Cap Martin, 1935. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd⁠
🎨 Sir Winston Churchill, Château Saint-Georges-Motel, 1930s. Image courtesy Churchill Heritage Ltd⁠
🎨Sir Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime (London: Odhams Press; Ernest Benn, 1948). Peter Belchamber.
📷️Sir Winston Churchill in his painting studio at Chartwell, 1945 Credit: Hans Wild/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

15/08/2026

Why was Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born 257 years ago today, so outraged by this statuette of himself?

Our Curator of Decorative Arts, Alexander Collins, tells the amusing story of why Napoleon ordered the other statuettes made alongside it to be melted down. Fortunately, the one we have in our collection - a statuette of Napoleon, paired with his second wife Empress Marie-Louise - is a survivor.

See the Emperor without his clothes in our West Galleries III.

François-Aimé Damerat, The Emperor Napoleon I, 1812
François-Aimé Damerat, The Empress Marie-Louise, 1812

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