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 Ottawa Art Gallery to acquire the "Firestone Art Collection," as it was then known. They won the bid, and the City obtained ownership of the nationally important Collection by promising new spaces dedicated to its maintenance and display within the Ottawa Art Gallery. June 6, 1992 marked the inaugural exhibition "Treasures from the Firestone Art Collection" at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and it was attended by both O.J. and Isobel Firestone, Glenn McInnes the first chair of the board of directors, and Mayo Graham, the first director of the Gallery. Revealing the new gallery spaces and the newly acquired Firestone