Waddesdon Bequest and the British Museum
Channel: Waddesdon Manor
Date: 2015-06-10

A Rothschild Renaissance: The Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum, London

A new permanent gallery has been opened at the British Museum, with a very special connection to Waddesdon Manor. The gallery houses the Waddesdon Bequest, a collection of 16th and 17th-century treasures put together by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898), who built Waddesdon Manor. Ferdinand called it his “Renaissance Museum“ and it was displayed during his lifetime in the Tower Drawing Room and later in the New Smoking Room at Waddesdon. 

On his death in 1898 Baron Ferdinand bequeathed the contents of the New Smoking Room to the British Museum where it remains to this day. Lead by curator Dr Dora Thornton, the British Museum has completely re-present the collection.

To celebrate the new display, Waddesdon Manor is holding an exhibition that examines the furnishings that surrounded the precious objects in the 1890s – Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild’s ‘Renaissance Museum’: Treasures from the Smoking Room at Waddesdon (25 March – 25 October 2015).  In addition there are two online exhibitions, exploring a selection of highlighted objects currently on display in Waddesdon’s Smoking Room (Objects from the Smoking Room at Waddesdon), and a look at all of the jewels also on display in the Smoking Room (The Smoking Room Jewels). 

see http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/collection/collection-news/a-rothschild-renaissance-the-waddesdon-bequest-reopens-at-the-british-museum