Wallace Collection of the wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time. The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display the collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is perhaps its extraordinary array of 18th-century French art:
Firestone Collection of Canadian Art Art Gallery, including shows focusing on single artists in the Collection and shows arranged around particular themes drawn from the Collection. After the inaugural exhibition in 1992, the Ottawa Art Gallery regularly exhibited selections of thirty to forty artworks from the Firestone Collection, presenting themes such as landscapes and cityscapes, waterways, the impact of the Group of Seven, and the influence of European art movements on Canadian Art. Exhibitions of works from the Firestone Collection were also enhanced by loans of artworks from other Canadian institutions, as well as being placed in dialogue with contemporary artwork from the Ottawa Art