The Great Gallery, the largest gallery at the Wallace Collection, has been closed since October 2012 to allow much-needed refurbishment works to be undertaken. The hang of the works of art had been in place for over thirty years, and the gallery was in urgent need of care and attention to bring it up to the same standard as our other beautiful rooms. Due to reopen in autumn 2014, the finished gallery will feature new, rich red wall silk, a raised ceiling, beautiful decoration – from gilded coving to parquet flooring – and a sophisticated new lighting scheme.

While you will hopefully have been enjoying the new temporary display of the Great Gallery works of art in our other sumptuous rooms here at the Wallace Collection, the Great Gallery itself has been undergoing a transformation. In recent months, the rather tired old silk has been taken down, the scaffolding has gone up, and the roof has been, quite literally, raised!

As the roof demolition continues, we thought you might like to see some behind the scenes photos of the progress being made. We will keep you updated on the refurbishment throughout this year and the next, and we look forward to unveiling the Great Gallery to you in all its glory next year. Do let us know what you think of the progress, and whether you like seeing these special behind the scenes shots: you can get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter (@WallaceMuseum), and at enquiries@wallacecollection.org.

1. The internal demolition of the Great Gallery is well underway. The walls have been stripped back to the original brickwork and the ceiling has been almost completely demolished, exposing the roof void steels and service ducts. We have built a crash deck scaffold in the gallery to provide access for high-level demolition; in this picture, the apparent ‘floor’ is actually the top of the crash deck. To the right of the picture one can see the cornice and the remnants of the coving (with the gilded trellis pattern), making it easier to picture the height of the deck.

2. The Great Gallery at floor level, underneath the crash deck. The walls have been stripped and the floor protected.

3. The first hole in the Great Gallery roof! This hole is currently used as site access in and out of the Great Gallery from the external scaffold. All of the waste from the demolition is taken out this way.

4. The temporary roof is under construction. Once finished this will be fully weathertight, allowing us to demolish the Great Gallery roof. The zinc ridge and glass panels of the existing roof are visible. In the background you can see the huge glass triangle of the Collection’s courtyard glass roof, above the restaurant.

5 & 6. The temporary roof under construction.

We look forward to keeping you up to date with the changes as they happen over the coming months, and do please come and visit the other beautiful rooms at the Collection which are open for the duration of the refurbishment project.

Helen Jacobs
Project Manager

This initiative has been funded by IC tomorrow, part of the Technology Strategy Board. IC tomorrow supports innovation and economic growth in the digital sector by running a range of funded contests. One of these contests linked digital start-up companies with leading cultural organisations and the Wallace Collection was lucky to be partnered with StickyWorld. The money provided by IC tomorrow has allowed StickyWorld to develop their platform using HTML5 and allowed us to document one of our most exciting projects of recent years; the refurbishment of the Great Gallery. The gallery is currently closed until summer 2014, but our new StickyWorld allows you to explore how the gallery used to look and lets you link to information about the objects that were previously displayed there, much of which is now in store. We are also posting photos of the build as the project progresses and you can comment and ask questions to museum staff by leaving virtual sticky notes on the slides. We’ll do our best to answer them all!

You can visit the room by clicking on the image above.

Please do try this exciting new application. We’re really interested to know what you think!

Guests will be treated to a champage reception and private view of the new galleries, followed by a sumptuous dinner in the glazed courtyard, period music and an auction conducted by Jonathan Horwich, Global Director of Pictures, Bonhams.

There will also be a silent auction of unique Dutch contemporary ceramics based on our Dutch Old Master paintings, generously sponsored by Bonhams. For more information, click here. To bid, go to www.bonhams.com.

Tickets for this exciting event are £295 per person or £2800 for a table of ten. For more information, or to book, click here, call 020 7563 9567 or e-mail donate@wallacecollection.org.

Proceeds from the dinner will go towards the first volume of the Wallace Collection’s Sculpture Catalogue.

This event is being run by the Hertford House Trust (Charity Number: 1109802) in support of the Wallace Collection’s charitable activities.

Ed Vaizey said of the project: “We are incredibly fortunate to have so many rich and fascinating collections, many of which have been improved, enhanced and made more accessible by the continuing generosity of the Wolfson Foundation. [The Foundation] has an ongoing dedication to improving museums and galleries both large and small, across the whole country and the Government is delighted to be able to match that funding.”

To learn more about the project, click here. 

The vision for the East Galleries Project is to create improved spaces to hang our internationally significant collection of Dutch paintings, returning the rooms to the proportions of Sir Richard Wallace’s day and re-introducing natural light with which to view the works of art. A selection of the most significant Dutch and Flemish paintings will remain on view in the East Drawing Room for the duration of the work. If you have any questions, or would like to see a painting which is not on view, please contact collections@wallacecollection.org.

We are currently experiencing noise disruption in the galleries and the restaurant due to these works.  The disruption is confined to 10am – 12.15pm and 2.15pm – 5.00pm.  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

West Gallery I presents an impressive group of paintings by Canaletto and Guardi, so beloved by British travellers on the Grand Tour. Some of these are among the earliest acquisitions to remain in the Collection and are complemented by Italian furniture and bronzes.

West Gallery II houses paintings by a generation of British and French painters who came to maturity in the 1820s. These include oil paintings by Richard Parkes Bonington and Eugene Delacroix, as well as famous artworks like Paul Delaroche’s Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower.

The Nineteenth-Century Gallery is densely hung as it would have been in Sir Richard Wallace’s lifetime, reflecting the appearance of the 19th-century salon displays in Paris. Many of the works in this gallery were by contemporaries, and often friends, of Sir Richard Wallace and the 4th Marquess of Hertford. The room is dominated by Ary Scheffer’s Francesca da Rimini as well as reflecting the 4th Marquess of Hertford’s interest in Napoleon, as can be seen by the huge collection of sculptures, paintings and miniatures connected with his life.

Whilst beautiful and vibrant in their design, these galleries provide a contrast to the intimacy of the more domestic interiors and offer a more formal celebration of some of our internationally significant collections of paintings.