Earlier today I had a meeting at The Wallace Collection in central London, which is just off Oxford Street near Bond Street tube station. While there we took the opportunity for a quick look at a couple of our favourite things.

The Wallace is a mine of all sorts of art eccentricities from paintings (famous and not so famous), through Sèvres porcelain and French furniture, to bronzes, metalware and armour. It describes itself on its website as a national museum in an historic London town house. In 25 galleries are unsurpassed displays of French 18th century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings and a world class armoury. Their description used to be A Family Collection, A National Museum, An International Treasure House — and that is precisely what it is!

Apart from my meeting and the inevitable coffee and cake, we stopped to look specifically at three things: the current exhibition, Poussin’s painting A Dance to the Music of Time (of course!) and some of the Dutch naval paintings.

The current exhibition is The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe. It contains some delightful examples of both functional and ceremonial rapiers from around 16th and 17th century Europe, together with a few artefacts and numerous contemporary illustrations.

Some of the metal work is stunning, but for me the highlight was the Parade costume of Christian II, Elector of Saxony which dates from the first decade of the 17th century. Costume from that date is rare, and something of this quality and in such good condition is just fabulous! With it was the Elector’s (ceremonial) rapier, the hilt inset with blue enamel and lapis to match the costume.

Having seen the swords, we made our way up to the first floor, past paintings by Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Canaletto for a quick look at Poussin’s painting A Dance to the Music of Time, inspiration for Anthony Powell‘s 12 volume magnus opus of the same title. Whenever I see the painting, which is always hung nicely at about eye-level, I am surprised by how small it is at just 82 x 104 cm.

On the wall opposite the Poussin is Frans Hals’s (wrongly named) The Laughing Cavalier, which today was amusing for having, left nearby on the floor, a reproduction lace collar complete with ye olde press studs.

Click these images for larger versions on Flickr

Finally we went to the newly transformed and restored Dutch Galleries, which look stunning. They contain some of my favourite paintings: the Dutch sea scenes of Willem Van De Velde (1633-1707). Many of these paintings, two of which are below, would have been done at a time when England was at war with Holland and Samuel Pepys (another of my “heroes”) was in charge of the British Navy.

Van De Velde Calm: Fishing Boats under Sail	Van De Velde The Embarkation of Charles II at Scheveningen This was the Restoration in 1660; Samuel Pepys was there

If you’re in central London and have some time The Wallace Collection is well worth a visit. You may not like everything it contains — personally I dislike the Sèvres porcelain and the ornate French furniture — but you’re almost bound to find something you like. The Collections are a nice size: worth seeing but not too huge. While to do it all in detail would take a lot of time you could absorb and enjoy the highlights in an hour or so.

The restaurant is definitely up-market, if not a little pretentious; the food is always good, although the service can be slightly tardy; our slices of coffee cake were gargantuan! There is the usual shop. Visitor information is here, and entrance is free.

All images except the two of the Frans Hals are © The Wallace Collection.