Walpole collection

The collection was put together by Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first prime minister, and housed at Houghton Hall and his other residences.

[1][2] It included paintings by Anthony van Dyck, Nicholas Poussin, Peter Paul Rubens, and Rembrandt,[3] as well as a number of portraits of family members.

[10] Many of the Old Master paintings subsequently went to the Hermitage Museum having been sold by the 3rd Earl to Catherine the Great in 1779 for £40,550 (equivalent to £6,875,236 in 2023).

[13] Some items from the collection were sold in 1853, including a portrait of Joseph Carreras by Sir Godfrey Kneller which returned to Houghton Hall.

[16] From 17 May 2013, until 24 November 2013, 70 pictures[17] from the Hermitage and other museums that were part of the collection were loaned to Houghton Hall to be exhibited in their original settings.