To get to Hertford House, we took the tube to Oxford Street, from where we walked till Selfridge’s and then turned right, onto Duke Street. Manchester Square is about 5-minute walk from Selfridge’s, on Duke Street.

The collection was largely acquired in the 1800’s by Sir Richard Wallace and the 3rd and 4th Marquesses of Hertford. Today, this display of paintings, sculpture, furniture, porcelain, enamelware, religious icons, and more spreads across 25 galleries. The best part is that everything’s a work of art--you’d think you were back in Regency England. Nearly all the chandeliers, mirrors, mantelpieces, and carved furniture date back to the Renaissance or the 1800’s. If you want to see the Wallace Collection really well, set apart about four hours.
Among the works on display, the ones I liked best were:

1. The porcelain collection. This includes extremely colourful lead-glazed earthenware from France; Spanish tin-glazed earthenware; and Italian maiolica. There’s a fine service of Sèvres china, embellished with a floral pattern and green ribbons.
2. The snuffbox collection. Crafted from gold, silver, and other metals, these are decorated with everything from enamel to semi-precious stones.
3. The portraits by Joshua Reynolds. I’ve always been a fan of Reynolds, and the Wallace Collection has a sizable number of them scattered across the galleries. Look out for the The Strawberry Girl, of a small child clutching a basket of strawberries. You can almost feel the softness of the girl’s cheek and sense her shyness!
4. The Augsburg Service, a set of gilded items including articles for the toilette and breakfast of an unknown lady of Quality. Interesting, and beautiful.
5. The Marie Antoinette collection, which contains paintings, furniture, a clock and other items bought when the belongings of the guillotined French Empress were auctioned off. The framed notice of the auction is also part of the collection.
6. The paintings. Besides Reynolds, there are other European masters here: Rembrandt, Rubens, Boucher, Fragonard, Thomas Gainsborough, and Champaigne- whose `Adoration of the Magi’ is particularly arresting. Nearly all the light in the picture, shining on the faces round about, emanates from the Holy Infant. Among the other works, do look out for the tiny, exquisite paintings of a mother with her children, by Delaroche; and the awesome light-and-shade of Meissonier’s pictures. His depiction of two travellers, mounted on horses in the dappled shade of trees, which is a beauty.
7. And- though this also is a painting, but it merits being set apart from the rest- Frans Hals’s The Laughing Cavalier. There’s a cynicism about the cavalier’s smile that’s just perfect!

All in all, the Wallace Collection is a must-see for anyone who’s into classic art.

The Wallace Collection is open daily from 10 to 5. Entry is free. There’s a shop that sells catalogues, posters, and the like--and there’s a café.

I was expecting perhaps a little more than the large plaque on the wall giving the details of his life and death but it was gut wrenching all the same. With the shrieks from the movie resounding in my ears I was very aware that this was a place where one of Scotland’s great heroes gave up his life. Somehow it almost felt like a holy place.

While you are in the area take the time to visit the two St. Bartholomew Churches, the Great and the Less. To enter St. Bartholomew the Great you pass through the gatehouse. This is a wonderful timber frame building that is one of the oldest surviving in London.

St. Bartholomew the Great was originally part of the Augustinian Priory founded in 1123 by Raheen one of Henry I courtiers. St. Bartholomew Hospital grew out of the priory’s care for the sick in the area. The grave of Raheen in located in the church in a beautiful tomb. The church had a pervasive smell of incense, from the funeral, which had, just finished I’m sure, but it certainly added to the atmosphere.

St. Bartholomew the Less is a hospital church. It has 2 surviving 15th century arches but the main reason to visit here is the 14th century brass memorial plaques on the floor. They are under a carpet that you must move and they are of William and Alice Markeby.

To get here take the circle line to Barbican stop. Come out of the station and turn right then turn right again. Walk down Long Lane until you see Cloth Fair, this is a very scenic street with some nice old half-timber houses. Cloth Fair will take you along the side of St. Bartholomew the Great right up to Smithfield Market.

Once you get there you are in for a treat. This is one of the premier decorative arts collections in the world. The art collection here is first class. It also has the best collection of arms and armour , second only to the Tower of London collection.

The collection was assembled primarily by one man, the 4th Marquess of Hereford. It was his illegitimate son and heir Richard Wallace whose wife left the collection to the nation with the stipulation that it be kept together, nothing added, nothing taken away. Now on one hand this means a stagnant collection but given the quality of the collection there is very little that could improve it.

We began our visit with a trip to the Fakes and Frauds section. Things that are not what they are suppose to be. Some purposeful and some accidental. Its a good lesson for a would be antique buyer.

There is a marvelous collection of French Boulle marquetry furniture here. Probably the best in the world.

The museum does have the most outstanding collection of Sevres in the world. There are 6 pieces of Empress Catherine the Great's turquoise blue set delivered to the Hermitage in 1776. The 4th Marquise aquired about 100 pieces looted from the Hermitage during a fire and after deciding to keep the six. He sold the other pieces back to Tsar Alexander II.

The Grand Picture Gallery will knock your socks off. There is Rembrandt's picture of his son Titus, Titian's Perseus and Andromeda, Poussin's A Dance to the Music of Time, Reuben's The Rainbow Landscape and Franz Hals' laughing Cavalier. There are also works by Watteau, Philippe de Champaigne, Delacroix, Fragonard, Boucher, Laurence, Reynolds, Gainsborough and many, many more. There are case after case of miniatures. Way too many to describe.

If you still have any energy walk through the rooms of armour and arms. This can take several hours to enjoy. Take your time, its too good to rush.

There is no entrance fee but a donation is highly recommended. The collection is open daily 10am-5pm, Sunday noon to 5pm.