London’s Best-Kept Secret Gallery: A Tour of the Wallace Collection

Inside the 18th-century Hertford House in Manchester Square is the Wallace Collection, a gallery and museum featuring magnificent artworks. It’s smaller than London's world-famous arthouses but contains masterpieces to rival them, and is considered one of London's best-kept secrets. On this walking tour through the luxurious town mansion, you’ll have a chance to get up close to the artworks as they aren’t cordoned off.

This indoor tour starts on the doorstep of the grand Hertford House in London’s Marylebone neighbourhood. Once inside, you’ll be masterfully guided by Brian Cookson, an expert London Blue Badge Guide. Along with learning about the most impressive pieces in each room, Brian will share Richard Wallace’s fascinating backstory, reveal why the gallery is named after him, and tell you how the four Marquesses of Hertford amassed the impressive collection before Wallace took over. He’ll also point out the various art styles which include Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classical.

By the end of this hour-long tour, you'll see:

• The largest collection of paintings by the Rococo artist, Francois Boucher, including The Rising of the Sun
• A portrait of Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV
• Ice Cream Coolers made at Sevres for Katherine the Great of Russia
• An imposing wardrobe with Boulle marquetry next to a bust of Louis XIV, the Sun King
• The Dance to the Music of Time by Poussin which inspired a series of novels
• A self-portrait by Rembrandt
• Perseus and Andromeda by Titian, the only Renaissance painting in the gallery
• The two most famous Wallace paintings: The Swing by Fragonard and The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals

You’ll depart Hertford House enriched with the experience of having been intimately guided through one of the most exclusive art collections in London. You’ll have pondered the important questions teased out through these immortal artworks and considered their often scandalous histories.