Wallace Collection Details

 

Last Sunday I featured the Wallace Collection in London, a house filled with artistic treasures.  In last week's post, my photos just walked through many of the amazing rooms filled with paintings, sculptures and furniture.  This week, I thought I'd show you just a few of the smaller pieces on display.  As you can see from this shot, some of the rooms were filled with cabinets full of beautiful things.

Here is a perfect example.  This cabinet is full of 18th Century French porcelain, exquisitely painted.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently did an exhibit detailing how Walt Disney was inspired by the beautiful porcelain pieces of this era and the Wallace Collection loaned many pieces to the Met for that exhibit.  When I checked the website for The Wallace Collection, I learned that same exhibit has now moved to London and will be on display at the museum through mid-October.  

Today, I'll feature a few other things that caught my eye when I visited this beautiful museum.  First is this painting by Flemish artist Pieter Pourbus called "An Allegory of True Love".  Since I studied Flemish art in school, I recognized the busy style of this artist who lived from 1523 to 1584.

I loved seeing these two exquisitely painted plates.  The one on top is described as "the virgin leading the Magdalene to Christ" and the second one depicts women bathing.  These are from the early 16th century.  

Here we have a larger sculpture made from Sicilian marble.  This is a copy that Sir Richard Wallace commissioned of "Love Triumphant".  

This painting was familiar to me.  I've seen it featured in books many times.  It's called "The Laughing Cavalier" by Frans Hals (1584 - 1666).  

He does look like a rather jolly fellow.  

Here we have a bust of Louis XIV, King of France.  This is a 19th-century replica.  

This last piece I've pictured brings to mind the art of Walt Disney that I mentioned above.  This reminded me so much of Cogsworth, the talking clock from the movie "Beauty and the Beast".  The clock in that movie is based on a mantel clock but that didn't stop me from seeing the rather proper, butler-like figure this clock seems to represent.