Wallace Collection
AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2011
Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection
252 pages, paperback, 280 x 240 mm, 250 colour illus.
PRICE: £30.00
ISBN: 978 0 900785 86 3
By Tobias Capwell
with David Edge and Jeremy Warren
Book of the Year 2012– Apollo Awards
Described by The Times as a “watershed between past and future of that most magnificent of publishing beasts, the academic catalogue … as beautifully presented and generously illustrated as it is well researched”, this book draws attention to a selection of the most refined and tantalizing pieces or arms and armour from one of the most significant collections of its kind.
The collection of arms and armour at the Wallace Collection consists of around 2,500 objects, representing both European and Oriental arms and armour. The European part of the collection was acquired primarily by Sir Richard Wallace, mainly in 1871, from the collections of Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick – founding father of the serious study of arms and armour in Britain – and that of the comte de Nieuwerkerke – Director of the Louvre under the Emperor Napoleon III. It is thereby an important surviving example of the 19th century passion for collecting arms and armour whose rarity, beauty of design, superlative craftsmanship, and richness of decoration were the guiding principles behind its formation. The collection is wide-ranging with the earliest pieces of armour dating from the 14th century, the earliest sword from 10th century, while the very fine historic firearms collection spans the 16th to the 19th centuries.
In the book Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection Curator of Arms and Armour Tobias Capwell along with David Edge, Armourer and Head of Conservation, introduce this significant collection in an armoury historical context highlighting about 70 of the collection’s most interesting objects spanning from before 1400 to after 1800. Among these are: the earliest piece in the collection, a Scandinavian sword dating from the early medieval “Viking age”, a golden tournament helmet of Emperor Ferdinand I from 1555, a dagger from 1599–1600 belonging to French Henri IV, and a flint-lock pistol dating from c. 1738-44 of Prince Louis, Dauphin of France, the eldest son of King Louis XV.
"Tobias Capwell, the museum's Curator og Arms and Armour, writes in an engaging and energetic style rooted in his great enthusiam for, and deep knowledge of, the subject. Capwell's new catalogue is a book to treaure and return to again and again." Guy Wilson, in Apollo, December 2012
"A wide variety of wonderful pieces is beautifully illustrated and discussed with insight. The book should surely bring appreciation of arms and armour as art to a wider public,...", Nick Hall, Keeper of artillery, Royal Armouries Museum, in The Art Newspaper, June 2012
All the exquisite glasses and Limoges painted enamels in the Wallace Collection are published together for the first time as part of a new series of catalogues raisonnés. Approximately sixty glasses and thirty painted enamels are showcased within the catalogue, demonstrating both the delicacy of colour and technical superiority of Venetian and Venetian-style glass, as well as the vibrancy and relflective character of Limoges enamels. Of particular significance among the glassware are a calcedonio goblet, a trick-glass tazza and a chalice-shaped goblet enamelled with the Crucifixtion, whilst the finest Limoges enamels are lavishly embellished with religious and secular iconography. More
Since the early Bronze Age the sword has been a sign of wealth, status and the power of divine right. Yet, before the sixteenth century the sword was almost never carried on the person in everyday life. It was a rare, noble weapon, carried into battle by the aristocratic warrior class but set aside in time of peace. However, the increasing prominence of the Renaissance middle classes brought a fundamental change to the sword's place in society. Now large numbers of non-noble but often wealthy and upwardly mobile people could also afford rich things like fine clothes, jewelry and weapons. More
A Dance to the Music of Time was painted by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) in c. 1634–36 for Giulio Rospigliosi, later Pope Clement IX. One of Poussin's most famous masterpieces, the picture's complex iconography was probably dictated by its patron. This analysis of the picture contains information on the meaning of the painting, the evolution of its composition, its visual sources and its critical content. More
The outstanding collection of European sculptures formed by Peter Marino, which focuses especially on French and Italian bronzes of the High Baroque, includes masterpieces by some of the greatest sculptors of their age, among them Ferdinando Tacca, Giovanni Battista Foggini, Robert Le Lorrain and Corneille van Clève. This volume of contributions to the symposium held in June 2010 testifying to the importance of the Marino Collection includes ten essays by distinguished scholars of sculpture. More
This catalogue accompanied the first ever loan exhibition of drawings from Waddesdon Manor, the house that was built and furnished by Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1989) to show off his works of art and to entertain the fashionable world. More
The Wallace Collection has the finest collection of eighteenth-century furniture outside France. Numbering over five hundred pieces, it includes furniture by the greatest Parisian cabinet makers, beginning with André-Charles Boulle and continuing through the major craftsmen of the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. More
Marquetry – creating patterns and pictures through inlaid veneers – has long been recognised as one of the most attractive and sophisticated methods of decoration fine furniture. Illuminating the marvellous world of beauty conjured up by superlative French craftsmen, including André-Charles Boulle, Jean-François Oeben and Jean-Henri Riesener, this book also reveals the technical secrets of this special art form, its sources and history. More
In the early nineteenth century Paris was an irresistible attraction for thousands of British tourists, among whom were many painters. There was an unprecedented interest in views of the city, and artists responded to this excitement with an extraordinary range of works, from simple pencil views to the most elaborate watercolours. It is this remarkable contribution of the British to the iconography of Paris, and the fact that it was in the early nineteenth century that the French capital became the major destination for mass middle-class tourism that it has remained ever since, that justifies the title of this publication – The Discovery of Paris. More
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the opening of the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow in 2007, this book provides a full study both of William Hunter - the many-faceted surgeon/connoisseur - and of his collection of art, which not only contains a number of outstanding masterpieces, such as a Rembrandt, but also provides a revealing snapshot of the taste of the period. While illuminating this crucial transitional period in British art, the book is at the same time a catalogue of the Hunterian collection. More
The group of about one hundred French bronzes in the Wallace Collection is justly considered one of the finest such collections in the world. Fifty-one of the best are featured in this book, the first in-depth study of the subject in English. More
The Wallace Collection’s Children’s Art Book will introduce children aged 7–9 to key works in the Collection through nine accessible themes, such as ‘Kings and Queens’, ‘Heroes and Monsters’ and ‘Showing Off’. Beautiful images, analysis and questions written for their age-group will encourage children to explore paintings, furniture, ceramics and arms and armour by some of the world’s greatest makers. More
Jean de Jullienne (1686–1766) was one of the leading French amateurs and collectors of the eighteenth century. He played an important role as editor and dealer, most famously of Watteau’s œuvre, and held an influential position in the French art administration of his time, as director of the Gobelins factory until 1729. More
Published on a USB drive, the Complete Digital Catalogue presents all the arms and armour held by the Wallace Collection in more than 7000 photographs, ranging from whole pieces to close details and presenting them from many angles. This magnificient and visually stunning resource is both rapidly searchable and is fully comprehensive, containing the texts of Sir James Mann's 1962 catalogue of Europena arms and amour, A.V.B. Norman's 1986 Supplement and every catalogue going back to 1900. More
The publication celebrates the recent opening of a new gallery at Hertford House devoted to miniatures and gold boxes, the Boudoir Cabinet. It features over seventy of the finest miniatures in the Wallace Collection, all of them reproduced in colour, most for the first time. More
The Wallace Collection has some of the finest, and certainly some of the most famous, gold boxes in the world. Paris was the centre of taste in the 18th century and the collection contains a remarkable group of boxes by the greatest goldsmiths of the period: Jean Ducrollay, Pierre-François Drais and Louis Roucel. Charles Truman, who has catalogued the collection of gold boxes, is one of the leading authorities on the subject. In this book he discusses the history of snuff-taking and the development, manufacture and collecting of gold boxes, with a particular emphasis on the design sources from which the craftsmen responsible for these wonderful works of art took their inspiration. More
Painting in 18th-century France was centred on the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, where the drawing of the male human figure was at the core of the curriculum. Only after mastering the copying of drawings and engravings, and then casts of antique sculptures, would the student be allowed to progress to drawing the nude figure in the life class. Accompanying an exhibition at the Wallace Collection that is unprecedented in Britain, this beautiful publication includes drawings by Rigaud, Boucher, Nattier, Pierre, Carle van Loo, Gros and Jean-Baptiste Isabey. More
WINNER of The Art Newspaper / AXA Exhibition Catalogue Award 2007.
Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo was an intriguing artist who painted some of the most beautiful and fascinating ceramics produced in Renaissance Italy. With surfaces entirely painted with scenes from classical literature, Roman history or the Bible, his dishes were much sought after by the educated elite of his time, and continue to fascinate ceramics enthusiasts today... More
This lavish and beautiful catalogue illustrates and discusses fifty-two French drawings dating from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, all from the Chateau de Versailles, which owns one of the finest collections of French drawings in the world. The catalogue has been prepared to accompany their exhibition at the Wallace Collection in autumn 2006. This is the only venue, and the drawings have never been discussed as a group. More
Paul Delaroche was a hugely popular painter during his lifetime, first making his name with a series of historical scenes which enjoyed great acclaim at the Paris Salon. His renown extended far beyond his native country. Honoured by almost every major academy, his pictures were sought by collectors in Britain, Germany, and Russia. More
In the middle of the fourteenth century, Europe was devastated by an appalling epidemic which killed a third of its population. Accused of having spread the disease, Jewish communities faced terrible persecutions, which often led them to bury their most valuable goods. Two of these hoards, discovered at Colmar in 1863 and at Erfurt in 1998, are discussed and illustrated in this splendid catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition at the Wallace Collection London. More
The Wallace Collection is fortunate to own probably the finest collection in the world of paintings by Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828) – ten oils and twenty-five watercolours. They represent most of his major areas of interest, ranging from richly costumed historical scenes to views in France and northern Italy, particularly Venice. More
Almost 200 years ago, William Hunter (1718–1783), founder of the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, was one of a small number of British art collectors to acquire works by his contemporary Jean-Siméon Chardin. Among these, Woman taking Tea (1735) has become something of an iconic image of French art from this period. It has a pair in a near contemporary painting Madame Boucher (1743) by François Boucher in the Frick Collection, New York. Accompanying an exhibition at the Wallace Collection, this catalogue will seek to examine relationships between these two works and their creation... More
One of the most famous and influential artists of the eighteenth century, Jean-Antoine Watteau (c. 1684–1721) fundamentally changed the course of French painting. With masterpieces such as Les charmes de la vie, Lady at her Toilet and Les Champs Élisées, the Wallace Collection preserves one of the three outstanding collections of his paintings worldwide (together with Paris and Berlin) but it has never before been the subject of a special exhibition or a separate study. More
The Schroder Collection of Renaissance Silver is among the most important to remain in private hands. Formed between about 1870 and 1930 over two generations of the Anglo-German banking family, it includes outstanding historic objects from England, Germany, Italy and elsewhere. Some of these formally belonged to princely collections such as the royal house of Hanover, the renowned Green Vault from Dresden or the Hollenzohen family. More
The remarkable collection of eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain acquired by the Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace between c. 1802 and c. 1875 now forms a distinguished part of The Wallace Collection.It is here catalogued as a set of three volumes - Volume One: Vases, Volume Two: Tea wares, useful wares, biscuit figures and plaques, Volume Three: References, appendices and index. More
Bronze has long been used by sculptors to create complex and beautiful forms, three-dimensional realisations of the most vivid human emotions and experiences. The outstanding collection of European bronze sculptures formed by Peter Marino, here catalogued for the first time and beautifully photographed by Maggie Nimkin, is built around an exploration of the human form, as depicted in this lustrous and sensuous material. More
