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Review of Dulwich Picture Gallery

Have you ever accidentally bought something really...

Have you ever accidentally bought something really expensive that you didn t need? That s what happened to Noel, his wife Margret, and their friend Francis. Back in the late 1700s they toured Europe, building up a large collection of paintings for the King of Poland, only to find, after five years of travelling, that there was no King of Poland.

So Noel, Margret, Francis and their royal art collection all lived together in a house they leased in Soho. Even when Noel died in 1807, a mausoleum was built in the back garden so the three friends could stay together. Then, four years later, after a riding accident and short illness, Francis also moved into the back garden.

Anyone who s rented a house can tell you that when your lease expires, anything you leave in the garden is likely to end up in a skip, and that also applies to mausoleums and dead relatives. So to continue their cohabitation a new home was urgently needed.

The solution, opened in 1815, one year after Margaret s death, was the Dulwich Picture Gallery (and Mausoleum). So now, 200 years later, this is where you ll still find the three friends and their royal collection.