The Wallace Collection Ticket Portal

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The great Venetian painter Antonio Canaletto used the camera obscura - the predecessor of the photographic camera - to make sketches on site. These formed the basis of his finished drawings and paintings. Philip Steadman has built a replica of an 18th-century camera obscura and used it to make drawings at places painted by Canaletto in London. He will explain exactly how the artist worked with the instrument, not only to produce his views of real places but also - surprisingly - his imaginary scenes, the ‘capricci.’

About the speaker: Philip Steadman is Emeritus Professor of Urban and Built Form Studies, Energy Institute, Bartlett School of Energy, Environment and Resources, University College London. His book Canaletto's Camera (UCL Press) is due to be published on 1 June 2025.

Watch online: Book a free ticket online to receive a Zoom link. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only.

Our current exhibition Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur is an inspiration for us to take a closer look at contemporary art. Join Dr Ben Street to discover ways to appreciate, enjoy and understand art of the last 65 years, by learning useful techniques for making meaningful connections.

We’ll take a broad sweep of works created in a vast array of media, and in a variety of geographical locations. During our exploration, we’ll discuss the different techniques at play, the methods of display used by artists, and some of the ideas and concepts that have driven contemporary artists.

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.  

Join us for an exclusive concert with the acclaimed Orion Orchestra and international soloist, Danny Koo. This special evening celebrates three remarkable anniversaries: Marylebone Music Festival’s 10th Anniversary Festival (16-22 June), the Wallace Collection’s 125th anniversary of opening as a public museum, and the 300th anniversary of the publication of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

During the evening, you'll also hear from art historian Dr Lelia Packer, author of our new publication Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection, about the captivating scenes of the Grand Canal represented in Canaletto's monumental paintings. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of 18th-century Venice, guests can also enjoy drinks and the opportunity to view our Venetian view paintings after hours.

Programme:

Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

La primavera (Spring) E Major
L’estate (Summer) G minor
L’autunno (Autumn) F Major
L’inverno (Winter) F minor

Orion Orchestra
Violin – Danny Koo

Proceeds from this concert will be divided between the Marylebone Music Festival and the Wallace Collection.

Copies of Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection can be purchased on the night.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special event, followed by drinks, book signing and gallery visit until 20.30. 

Be spellbound by students from English National Ballet School as they perform their own choreographic works, set to music in the intimate surroundings of our galleries.

Over several months, Young Choreographers from the English National Ballet School have been exploring the history of the Wallace Collection and developing choreography informed by encounters with the collection. Our evening showcase presents their breathtaking new work, performed in the galleries that have inspired them. 

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special evening, which includes performances in different galleries throughout the building. Includes short, unseated performances and movement between different levels. The main performance (approx. 25 minutes) will be seated. 

Includes a drinks reception on arrival. The museum will reopen at 18.15 for ticketholders. 

Image: © @photography_byash

Join us for an exclusive supporters-only event, taking place after hours at the Wallace Collection. After an opportunity to view our landmark exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur, the celebrated artist himself will be leading our Annual Supporters talk.

The talk will be followed by a drinks reception.

Join us at the museum: The exhibition will be open from 17.30, for ticket holders only, to have a private look before the beginning of the talk at 18.30. Please note, a valid Members’ Card will be needed to attend this event.

Please note - the Wallace Collection will close at 17.00 before ticket holders are re-admitted. 

Be spellbound by students from English National Ballet School as they perform their own choreographic works, set to music in the intimate surroundings of our galleries.

Over several months, Young Choreographers from the English National Ballet School have been exploring the history of the Wallace Collection and developing choreography informed by encounters with the collection. Our evening showcase presents their breathtaking new work, performed in the galleries that have inspired them. 

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special evening, which includes performances in different galleries throughout the building. Includes short, unseated performances and movement between different levels. The main performance (approx. 25 minutes) will be seated. 

Includes a drinks reception on arrival. The museum will reopen at 18.15 for ticketholders. 

Image: © @photography_byash

Join us online to celebrate Creativity and Wellbeing Week. Join us online to explore five ways of wellbeing through connecting to an artwork. Spend some restorative and reflective moments with one painting from our collection.

Join online: Book a free ticket online to receive a Zoom link. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only. 

Join Dr Ben Street to explore Grayson Perry’s technical and allusive relationship with art of the past. We’ll investigate the use of historical materials and techniques in Perry’s tapestries, ceramics, etchings and woodcuts. We’ll also discover ways in which Perry references well-known work by artists of the past such as Masaccio, Hogarth, Crivelli and Goya. Our investigation will enable us to develop both a deeper encounter with Perry’s diverse work, and a renewed engagement with art of the past.

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor.  

Tickets are for all dates of this course. Ticketholders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all sessions.   

Course Recording: This course will be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks.  

Image: Grayson Perry, Alan Measles and Claire meet Shirley Smith and The Honourable Millicent Wallace, 2024 (detail) © Grayson Perry. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro

Delve into a creative weekend of screen-printing, inspired by Grayson Perry’s playful and experimental work in our new exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur. Over two days, you’ll create your own printed responses from a selection of objects and themes drawn from the exhibition. You’ll learn how to print and register colourful screen prints, how to monoprint and develop colour blends and hand-drawn backgrounds, and how to use pre-made photographic screens. By the end of the masterclass, you’ll have developed a fundamental understanding of screen-printing processes, of the printmaker’s key tools, and a working knowledge of textile printing.

For ages 18+. 

Read the full course description here.  

Joining Information and Format: This masterclass will take place in the Learning Studio, Lower Ground Floor at the museum.

Equipment and Materials: Please wear clothes suitable for a messy workshop in a room kept warm for life models. All materials and equipment are provided.  

Journey to 18th-century Venice through a captivating selection of paintings created by the foremost Venetian view painters of the time: Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. Join us for an engaging discussion that will not only reveal why Venice was such a popular destination for Grand Tourists, but will illuminate the historical significance of the Wallace Collection’s paintings and invite us to reflect on Venice's enduring allure.

About the speakers: Dr Lelia Packer was Curator of Paintings at the Wallace Collection between 2017 and 2024. During her time here, she curated the Collection's first major international exhibition, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait. She also led the Collection's multi-year conservation and research project around its Venetian view paintings, culminating in her recent book, co-authored with Charles Beddington, Canaletto and Guardi: Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection (Scala 2025). Before joining the Wallace Collection, Lelia held positions at prestigious institutions such as the National Gallery in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Take part at the museum: No ticket required, drop in on the day. Join us in the Theatre for this special talk.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Book a free ticket online to receive a Zoom link. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks only.   

In an exclusive after-hours event for teachers, experience our Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur exhibition. 

Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur presents over 40 new works by Sir Grayson Perry (1960). In the largest contemporary exhibition ever held at the museum, visitors will encounter ceramics, tapestries, metalwork and works on paper amongst others, displayed alongside masterpieces from the collection that helped shape Perry’s vision for this landmark show. 

Enjoy a glass of wine and light refreshments, then join educator Marc Woodhead and the Wallace Collection Learning team for a brief introduction to the exhibition before exploring the show yourself.  

Drop in to the museum from 16.45-16.55 and explore the exhibition from 17.30-18.45.  Please note, the museum closes at 17.00 and last entry will be permitted until 17.15 for this event.

Free, but booking is essential. Please book using your school email address. Contact schools@wallacecollection.org if you have any questions. 

Image: Grayson Perry, shot exclusively for the Wallace Collection, London 2024 © Richard Ansett

Polish your halo, dust off your angel wings and prepare to party with Saint Sebastian, Saint Joan and more in the heavenly setting of the Wallace Collection.

Our legendary Queer knees-up is back with a sparkle, devotedly curated by artist Sadie Lee. Join us for Queer-themed performances, music and art at the most divine museum in town.

Event supported by The Portman Estate

Take part at the Museum: Join us at the museum for this special event between 18.30-21.30 BST, with bar and music continuing until 23.00. Includes access to the Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur exhibition until 20.30.

Join us for an exploration of the extraordinary life and work of Madge Gill (1882–1961), one of Britain’s most enigmatic artists. Featured in our current exhibition, Grayson Perry: Delusions of Grandeur – and a key source of inspiration to Perry – Gill’s work invites us to question how we define creativity and artistic legitimacy.

Bringing together curators, art critics and writers Sophie Dutton, Hettie Judah, Lisa Slominski and Jennifer Higgie to reflect on Gill’s life and prolific output – created under the influence of a spirit guide she called ‘Myrninerest’ – we’ll consider her place within art history and the wider context of ‘outsider’ art.

About the speakers:

Sophie Dutton is a curator, writer, designer and researcher. She is the editor and designer of Madge Gill by Myrninerest, a monograph published by Rough Trade Books in 2019, with a second edition released this year. Dutton has curated exhibitions of Gill's work, including Myrninerest at The William Morris Gallery (2019), Nature in Mind, featuring reproductions of Gill's art along The Line art trail in east London (2021) and The Clouds Will Burst the Sun Will Shine Again at the Midlands Art Centre (2023).

Jennifer Higgie is a writer and art critic. She was previously the editor of Frieze magazine and is the author of several books including The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits (2021) and The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World (2023). Higgie also hosts the National Gallery of Australia's podcast Artist's Artists and curated the 2023 exhibition Thin Skin at the Monash University Museum of Art in Melbourne.

Hettie Judah is a writer and curator. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian, Frieze, The Times Literary Supplement, and Apollo magazine. Her recent shows include the 2024/25 Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, and Gate of Horns: Myths of Resistance, Symbols of Defiance at Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate. As a public speaker and broadcaster, she can be heard on programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. Her recent publications include How Not To Exclude Artist Mothers (and other parents) (Lund Humphries, 2022), Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones (John Murray, London, 2022) and Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood (Thames & Hudson, 2024). Her forthcoming book How to Enter the Art World After… will be published in 2026.

Lisa Slominski is a curator, writer and cultural producer. She advocates for neurodiversity in contemporary art and examines the historical framework of underrepresented artists, often considered 'self-taught' or 'outsiders'. Slominski is the author of Nonconformers: A New History of Self-Taught Artists (Yale University Press, 2022) and co-founder of ‘Art et al.’, an inclusive curatorial platform focusing on collaborations between arts professionals with and without disabilities.

Take part at the museum: Join us at the museum for this special talk, followed by drinks and exhibition visit.

Watch online: This talk will also be broadcast live from the museum. Online ticketholders will be emailed a link to join 24 hours in advance. Ticketholders will also receive a link to view a recording of the talk, which will be available for two weeks.

Image: Madge Gill, Untitled, date unknown, courtesy of London Borough of Newham

‘Damned expensive taste though’: The Afterlife of George IV’s Collections and Building Projects, from William IV to Elizabeth II'

King George IV died on 16 June 1830 in his new bedroom at Windsor Castle. Increasingly dropsical and reclusive towards the end of his life, he had only just moved into his new apartments in the Castle with his rapacious mistress, Lady Conyngham, and a small group of devoted attendants. George bequeathed a vast array of furniture and works of art to his successors, assembled during a lifetime of omnivorous collecting, as well as unfinished building projects in Windsor and London.

Join Tim Knox, Director of the Royal Collection, as he traces the afterlife of George IV’s myriad collections and building projects, and reveals how his sometimes-reluctant heirs coped with his prodigious legacy.

About the Speaker: Tim Knox was appointed Director of the Royal Collection by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. Prior to that he was Director and Marlay Curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, where he made a number of important acquisitions and planned the Museum's masterplan. He was Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum in London between 2005 and 2013, where he restored Sir John Soane’s glittering architectural treasury to its appearance in 1837, just as its founder wished, and converted the neighbouring houses to provide facilities for the museum. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and Co-Patron of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust, which he helped found.

Dame Rosalind Savill Memorial Lecture

Dame Rosalind Savill was Director of the Wallace Collection from 1992 to 2011. With great energy and tenacity, she brought vital change to the museum, transforming it from an undervisited institution into a cultural landmark.

In memory of Dame Rosalind's profound contribution to the study of French decorative arts – and in the spirit of her passion for sharing her knowledge with the public – the annual Dame Rosalind Savill Memorial Lecture enables a leading scholar to share new insights into the world of 18th-century French arts and culture and the history of collecting.

This lecture is made possible thanks to a donation in memory of Cynthia Postan and the support of anonymous donors.