By 1600 the displayed paintings included a portrait of William Petre which remains at Ingatestone Hall.
[2] By the end of the 18th century, the collection was housed at Thorndon Hall - the Petre's newly built Palladian mansion.
Following the fire, the family (and its picture collection) occupied the East Wing, but later moved to Ingatestone Hall.
Among the paintings in the collection at the time of the fire was a version of the family of Sir Thomas More after Holbein that is now owned by the Chelsea Society.
[6] In 1956, Sir David Piper prepared a descriptive catalogue of the family portraits in the collection for the Essex Record Office.