Wallace Collection
An 18th-century townhouse turned jewel box, the Wallace Collection delivers old-master intensity at domestic scale. Free to enter, it condenses France and the Low Countries into silk-lined rooms where Fragonard's The Swing flirts across from Hals's sparkling 'Laughing Cavalier', Titian's myth glows nearby, and Sèvres porcelain and gilded furniture stage courtly life. Downstairs, world-class armouries reveal steel worked like fabric, etched, gilded and built for both parade and battle. Begin upstairs with paintings, then descend to the armour and decorative arts; the rhythm from canvas to craft makes the collection sing. It's uncrowded, human-sized and gorgeously lit. Plan 60-90 minutes, add time for the glass-roofed café, and bring sharp eyes-the pleasure is in the detail.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
The Swing
Icon of Rococo paintingJean-Honoré Fragonard’s 1767 scene captures Parisian high society at play; its glittering brushwork and cheeky story made it one of the 18th century’s most talked-about pictures.
📍 First floor, Painting Galleries
Laughing Cavalier
Frans Hals portrait masterclassPainted in 1624, the sitter isn’t a ‘cavalier’ at all; Hals dazzles with flashing brushwork and embroidered motifs that seem to shimmer as you move.
📍 First floor, Painting Galleries
Perseus & Andromeda
Titian’s late myth paintingTitian’s c.1554-56 canvas, made for Philip II of Spain, shows Perseus swooping in to save Andromeda; look for the loose, late style that inspired generations of painters.
📍 First floor, Painting Galleries
European Armouries
World-class Renaissance armourEtched and gilded field and parade armours from c.1525-1600 show how metal was shaped like fabric; many pieces were made for noble courts and real battle.
📍 Ground floor, Armouries I-II
Sèvres Porcelain
Royal French porcelainThe Wallace holds one of the richest Sèvres collections, including royal commissions from the 1750s-1790s, when pastel colours and gilding set the European taste.
📍 First floor, Porcelain Rooms
Inspire your Friends
- The collection was left to the nation in 1897 with free entry for all.
- For over a century, objects could not be lent; a 2019 law now allows loans.
- Frans Hals’s ‘Laughing Cavalier’ dates to 1624 and the sitter is unknown.
- The Armouries include etched and gilded parade pieces made around 1525-1600.
- The Wallace holds one of the world’s finest collections of Sèvres porcelain.
