The Wellington Collection is a large art and militaria collection housed at Apsley House in London. It mainly consists of paintings, including 83 formerly in the Spanish royal collection, given to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who was Prime Minister as well as the general commanding the British forces to victory in the Napoleonic Wars. It also includes his collection of furniture, sculpture, porcelain, the silver centrepiece made for him in Portugal around 1815, and many other artworks and memorabilia relating to his career. Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, gave the house and its most important contents to the nation in 1947, but the Wellington Museum Act that year established the family's right to occupy just over half the house "so long as there is a Duke of Wellington". The Wellington Collection, along with the house, is managed by English Heritage and is open to the public.
List of paintings
The notable collection of over 200 paintings on display includes 83 paintings from the Spanish royal collection. At the Battle of Vitoria in northern Spain in 1813, the British army captured a carriage full of paintings from the Spanish royal collection. Joseph Bonaparte, whose brother Napoleon had made him King of Spain, had already lost Madrid, escaping with over 200 paintings in the carriage. Most had been removed from their frames and were rolled up in a large "imperial" or travelling-chest, along with state papers, love letters, and other documents. After a quick look, Wellington and his staff thought there was nothing very important or valuable in it, but sent the imperial by sea to his brother William, Lord Maryborough in London for a proper check. His brother called in William Seguier, later the first keeper of the National Gallery, who recognised the quality of the paintings and compiled a list of 165 of the most important. Wellington then informed the court of the restored Bourbon King Ferdinand VII of Spain of the incident, to make arrangements for their return, but the king said Wellington should keep them as a gift. The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck was also in the carriage, but appears to have been looted by the soldiers, and next appeared in London in 1816 in the possession of a Scottish colonel who had been at Vitoria. Not all the paintings acquired by the first Duke have been on public display. For example, Danaë, an important painting by Titian, long thought to be a copy, was kept in part of the house not open to the public. Danaë and two other Titians reattributed at the same time were briefly put on public exhibition, for the first time, in 2015. The painting collection includes work by: American School British School Dutch School Flemish School French School German School Italian School Spanish School
Other art
's heroic marble nude of Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker is holding a gilded Nike in the palm of his right hand, and stands to the raised left hand holding a staff. It was set up for a time in the Louvre and was bought by the Government for Wellington in 1816 and is placed at the bottom of a stairwell. The 1st Duke received many gifts from European continental rulers that are displayed in the House:
