The Wallace Collection Ticket Portal

Some of the finest objects in the Wallace Collection were originally made for the Palace of Versailles. This year, as we celebrate the 400th birthday of Europe’s most iconic royal palace, uncover its fascinating and complex history. We’ll learn about the chateau’s architectural and stylistic development, and how it was luxuriously furnished with precious products from the royal manufactures.

Taking a tantalising glimpse into the magnificent state receptions, organised to welcome and awe foreign ambassadors, we’ll also consider Versailles’ political role as the architectural embodiment of royal power. You’ll gain fascinating insights into how the palace operated, and into the daily lives of the kings, queens, royal mistresses and courtiers who inhabited it.

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 time for Q&A with the tutor. Tickets are for both dates. Ticket holders 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 both sessions of the course.

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 Credit: Louis XV's Commode by Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus, 1739, during its temporary loan to Versailles in 2023. Photography by Thomas Garnier © Château de Versailles and The Wallace Collection

With live captions by Stagetext

While Frans Hals’s The Laughing Cavalier is on loan to the National Gallery, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester takes up his esteemed position in the Great Gallery. Like Hals's ‘cavalier’, Dudley is shown wearing rich clothing appropriate to a member of society's elite. Known today mainly as Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Dudley was a complex figure. Learn what the painting tells us about its famous sitter and hear how art historians investigate surviving Elizabethan paintings today.

About the speakers: Professor Karen Hearn was the Curator of 16th and 17th Century British Art at Tate Britain in London from 1992 to 2012 and is now an Honorary Professor at University College London.

Lucy Davis has been Curator of Paintings and Miniatures at the Wallace Collection since 2011. She has written numerous articles on works in the collection, particularly on Flemish painting.

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.

Sir Richard Wallace and Robert Stayner Holford were both avid art collectors. Both men had the common ambition to build a London townhouse in which to display their remarkable collections. Explore the monumental results of their work: Hertford House, Marylebone, and Dorchester House, Park Lane.

Despite being the home of the Wallace Collection today, remarkably little is known about Hertford House. Who was the original architect, and who was the mysterious T B Ambler who secured the prestigious commission to rebuild it? Dorchester House is an even greater challenge. Demolished to make way for the famous namesake hotel in 1929, only the architect’s intricate drawings survive.

Discover the remarkable story of two of London’s greatest treasure houses and engage with rare archival material from the Wallace Collection and the RIBA. You’ll gain an appreciation of Victorian architecture at its richest, and of the community of architects and artists that made London’s ‘Gilded Age’ a reality.

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 time for Q&A with the tutor. Tickets are for both dates. Ticket holders 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 both sessions of the course.

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.   

Presented in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Live captions available (via Stagetext)

As part of Open Furniture Month, join Curatorial Assistant Alexander Collins to explore the development of multifunctional furniture in France during the 18th century, as well as the brilliant cabinetmakers who made it.

Alexander will reveal how following the death of Louis XIV, life as a member of France’s elite was full of splendour, style and secrecy. Under Louis XV and Louis XVI, new ways of living developed, where comfort and sociability reigned supreme in rococo, then neoclassical interiors.

You’ll learn how cabinetmakers played a pivotal role in this transition by pioneering furniture that could transform to suit a variety of activities, satisfying aristocratic desires for novelty and convenience.

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.

How does the Wallace Collection’s small but important group of Barbizon paintings by Rousseau, Corot and Troyon play a pivotal role in the development of modern painting in France?

In the vast region of the Forest of Fontainebleau, situated about 60 kilometres from Paris, early 19th-century painters immersed themselves in nature. We’ll investigate how the Forest’s dense woodlands, remote glades and dramatic plateaus instigated audacious approaches to painting. We’ll also consider the significance of early photographers Le Gray and Cuvelier who, inspired by landscape painting, also created new ways of depicting the region.

Looking at a small selection of works through a contextual talk and gallery tour, we’ll learn how pioneering Barbizon artists contributed to the transformation of landscape painting during the lead-up to French Impressionism.  

Joining Information and Format: This course will take place in the Theatre, Lower Ground Floor at the museum.

Live captions available (via Stagetext)

What does our intriguing portrait of Eleonora di Toledo reveal about this extraordinary woman? After arriving in Florence in 1539 as the 17-year-old bride of Duke Cosimo de’Medici, how did she succeed in following the demands of court etiquette while maintaining her own personal style?

Join Dr Elizabeth Currie to discover how, in the following two decades after her arrival, Eleonora helped shape the identity and international standing of the Florentine court. Through surviving letters and documents, Dr Currie will discuss her exacting taste and her involvement in commissioning clothing for herself, family relatives, and members of her entourage.

About the speakers

Dr Elizabeth Currie is a dress historian specialising in the Italian Renaissance period. She teaches at Central Saint Martins and lectures internationally at events and conferences on Renaissance art and fashion. She has published widely in academic journals and exhibition catalogues. Her books include Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence (2016) and the edited volume A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Renaissance (2017). She is currently completing a publication on everyday dress in Italian Baroque art.

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.  

The Wallace Collection holds fascinating objects relating to Catherine the Great’s reign. Trace the story of her remarkable life, from her early years as a run-of-the-mill Prussian princess to her phenomenal rise to Empress of All the Russias, holding the throne for no fewer than 34 years. We’ll examine Catherine’s ascent within a political context, underpinned by her imperial ambitions.

We’ll also consider the effects of the rigidly stratified society during her lifetime, in which the luxurious existence of Russia’s noble elite starkly contrasted with the challenging and often-precarious circumstances of around nine million serfs. Artistic production will feature throughout, helping us to see how Catherine positioned herself as a paragon of the Enlightenment through her determined, and at times, voracious patronage of the visual arts.

Led by art historian and specialist in the visual arts of the former Russian Empire, Professor Rosalind Polly Blakesley.

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 both 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.

Enhance your teaching of creative writing through exploring paintings and decorative art objects in the Wallace Collection. 

This session is designed for secondary English teachers who would like to invigorate their teaching of creative writing.  We will give you new strategies to challenge students to write for different audiences and purposes.

This session will take place in the museum.  It will start with a talk by Barbara Bleiman of the English and Media Centre.  Attendees will then experience some of the activities from our school session in the galleries.
Afterwards, enjoy refreshments and talking to colleagues. 

About the Speaker: Barbara Bleiman is an education consultant at the English and Media Centre and co-editor of emagazine and the author of What Matters in English Teaching. She writes blogs and articles about education and has written or co-written many EMC publications for the classroom, including several resources on poetry, novels and language study. In 2019 she was awarded the NATE Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Teaching of English. She is also a Fellow of the English Association. Barbara is the author of two novels, Off the Voortrekker Road and Accidents of Love, and has recently published a collection of short stories, Kremlinology of Kisses.

The Wallace Collection houses one of the most important collections of Napoleonic artworks anywhere in the world.

With the arrival of Ridley Scott’s biopic of Napoleon on the big screen, Alexander Collins will look closely at the emperor’s life. From obscurity in Corsica to world leader, Napoleon reshaped the social, political and religious landscape of France and beyond. What might the museum’s collection reveal about this controversial and fascinating figure?

About the speaker

Alexander Collins is Curatorial Assistant at the Wallace Collection. Previously, he was Assistant Curator for Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney and Leverhulme Fellow for the prestigious Riesener Project, in which he researched the furniture of Jean-Henri Riesener and contributed to the Project’s monograph and digital resources. Alexander was also Decorative Arts Curatorial Intern at the Royal Collection.

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.

Caption: Antoine-Jean Gros, General Bonaparte reviewing Troops, about 1802/3.

Portraying kings, princesses, slaves and servants, as well as individuals, the Wallace Collection displays objects from the 16th to the 19th centuries that include diverse and multifaceted depictions of Black figures. These fascinating works provide a unique lens through which we can learn more about the representation and roles of Black individuals in European society.

While the depiction of Black figures is often explicit, there are occasions when a more nuanced exploration is required in order to unearth implicit or concealed presence. Join us to uncover and elucidate Black presence in art, and increase your understanding of representations of Black individuals in the Wallace Collection and other art collections.

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 both 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.