A Rothschild Renaissance: treasures from the Waddesdon bequest

Abstract

The Waddesdon Bequest is a collection of nearly 300 precious art objects from Renaissance Europe. It was bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, M.P., when he died in 1898. The Bequest is named after Waddesdon Manor, the mansion he built in Buckinghamshire, England, where the collection was housed during his lifetime. The collection was accumulated by Baron Ferdinand and by his father, Baron Anselm, and was intended to rival those put together by rulers and princes from the Renaissance onwards. It is mainly made up of small-scale, rare and precious pieces of the highest quality which were intended to inspire a sense of curiosity and wonder.