The Wallace Collection Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008 : House of Commons Papers 962 2007-08

The Wallace Collection was formed in the nineteenth century by successive Marquesses of Hertford and by Sir Richard Wallace (the illegitimate son of the fourth Marquess), whose widow bequeathed it to the Nation in 1897 to be preserved as a national museum 'unmixed with other works of art'. The Collection contains paintings of the British, Dutch, French, Italian and Spanish schools, miniatures, sculpture, French furniture and porcelain, European and Oriental arms and armour, goldsmiths' work and ceramics; in each field the works of art are of the highest quality. It opened as a museum on 22 June 1900. Admission is free.The Collection comprises 5466 items. The annual report for 2007-08 details the aims of the Collection and reviews the year's activities, including: refurbishment, exhibitions, publications, seminars, acquisitions and loans, the launch of Wallace Live (47 per cent of the Collection is available to search online), conservation work, library and archives, educational activities. Visitor numbers increased from 277,000 to 345,500, an increase of 25 per cent. This is the highest visitor figure for the last hundred years, and exceeds the Collection's 2012 target.