Excerpt from The Wallace Collection at Hertford House In his manner of collecting he differed from the ordinary rich men who are possessed of the idea that art patronage is a sort of social duty. He did not put himself-blindly into the hands of a'professional adviser and accept, as a matter of course, the things that were. Recommended to him. He had his own well cultivated Opinions, _ based partly upon very, correct instincts and partly upon careful study of the best examples, and these op1hions guided him, as can be seen now, so well that he made. Surprisingly few mistakes.' There was a sin gular absence of ostentation in' his method, none of that dramatic competition which is iso' gratifying and exciting to the average man. He did not appear in the sale rooms to fight his own battles and to enjoy on the spot his frequent triumphs. His life was one of seclu sion, almost of isolation; he made few friends and disliked contact with the world. So his buying was done by the aid of trusted agents, who worked'for him under his 'direction and submitted to him privately for his approval the treasures he'coveted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.