Wallace Collection the largest, most important and extant collection of French 18th-century decorative arts in the world, rivalled only by the triumvirate of the Musée du Louvre, Château de Versailles and Mobilier National in France. The Wallace Collection is a non-departmental public body and admission is free. The Wallace Collection is a museum which displays the works of art collected in the 18th and 19th centuries by five generations of a British aristocratic family – the first four Marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, the illegitimate son of the 4th Marquess. In the 19th century, the Marquesses of Hertford were one
Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection The Mary Ann Beinecke Decorative Art Collection is a research collection of more than 1200 volumes on textiles and decorative art subjects, which is held in the Library of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. It was assembled over the course of her career by the weaver, textile artist and author Mary Ann Beinecke. The collection contains items spanning the period from 1550 to the 1970s and holds particular strengths in costume history, handicrafts and textile design. Collection interests include numerous examples of French manufacturers’ sample books of fabrics, lace, ribbons and trims;