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Apsley House Art Collection

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The collection of paintings at Apsley House contains about 200 of the finest works of art in London. It is a treasure house of pictures that originally belonged to the king of Spain, and which were removed from the Spanish royal palaces by Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Joseph.

Among the paintings are some of the finest canvases from the Spanish Royal Collection, captured by the 1st Duke of Wellington in 1813. These include masterpieces by Italian Old Masters such as Correggio and Giulio Romano and works by Spanish 'Golden Age' painters such as Velázquez and Murillo. Among the famous works of art on view are Velázquez's celebrated The Waterseller of Seville and Goya's Equestrian portrait of the 1st Duke of Wellington.

The collection also shows the 1st Duke of Wellington's taste and provides a visual record of the Napoleonic period. The great general bought important seventeenth-century Dutch paintings as well as a series of French and British portraits of his famous contemporaries and depictions of battle scenes in which he had achieved his victories.

To buy the new, revised Catalogue of Paintings in the Wellington Museum please contact Apsley House on 0207 499 5676.

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