Art and intrigue
艺谋风云
A museum with a history even more rococo than its collection
精彩的历史，华美的收藏-一个洛可可时代博物馆的前世今生
原文
本文由Megaeraxcz2翻译，转摘请注明。
Hertford House, an imposing red brick house on a leafy London square was one of several impressive properties inherited by the fourth Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870; he is also called Lord Hertford). In 1900, having been bought by the government, it became the Wallace Collection, a national museum. With its many treasures and its domestic setting, it has been a haven for connoisseurs and dreamers ever since.
在伦敦一个形如落叶的广场中，座落着一栋气势恢宏的红砖建筑。那就是赫特福德公馆。它曾是赫特福德侯爵四世（生于1800年，死于1870年，也被称作赫特福德勋爵）留下的几处大型房产之一。英国政府在1900年出资买下，改名华莱士收藏馆，使其成为一座国家博物馆。从此以后，无数的珍品和华美的内饰使其成为鉴赏家和梦想家的天堂。
The generously proportioned rooms envelop one of the great surviving privately formed collections of 18th-century French art, furniture and gold boxes. This ensemble of opulent objects and lyrical pictures is displayed in rooms “papered” with intensely coloured silks. Crimson, emerald, coral and sapphire walls sing in harmony with the glazes of the Sèvres porcelain for which the collection is justly famous. (Even some of the dainty fruitwood, ormolu-mounted furniture is inset with Sèvres plaques.)
一间间宽敞的房子里收藏着现存数量最多一批的18世纪法国私人藏品，包括艺术品，家具和金盒子。奢华的陈设同欢愉的画作在布满浓色丝绸的房中同歌。深红，翡绿，天蓝的墙面与塞弗尔瓷器映射的柔光共舞。该馆因此声名远扬。（甚至在一些芬香的果木和镀金的家具中也镶嵌着塞夫勒瓷片）
Among many exceptional pieces of French furniture, two by the celebrated Jean-Henri Riesener, cabinetmaker to the king, stand out: one is an engagingly inlaid marquetry desk, among the first with a roll top; the other is an elaborate secretaire delivered to Marie Antoinette (the Wallace has the world's largest collection of her belongings). There are also gold boxes, elaborate gilded bronze mounted clocks, paintings by Boucher (including his portrait of Madame de Pompadour, which is pictured on this page), Watteau and Fragonard. The latter’s famous “Swing” appears simultaneously light-hearted, lascivious and cruel. But at the Wallace, the world does not begin and end in France. There is also armour, majolica, medieval and Renaissance objets d’art and scores of Old Master paintings including outstanding works by Rembrandt, Velasquez, Hals and Titian.
在众多法式家具珍品中，由著名的御用工匠里厄泽纳制造的两件作品尤为醒目。一件是巧夺天工的内嵌式金雕书桌，顶盖可以开合；另一件是为路易十六的皇后玛丽•安托瓦内特制作的精美写字台（华莱士收藏馆是全世界收藏她物品最多的博物馆）。此外，馆内还收藏了一些金盒，精工铜钟，法国洛可可艺术家布歇的画作（包括他为法国国王路易十五情人庞巴度夫人所作的肖像画，也就是作为本文插图的这幅），以及华托和弗拉戈纳尔的画作，后者在其杰作《秋千》中同时展现了愉悦，淫欲与残酷。但华莱士收藏馆不仅仅只收藏法国作品。还有盔甲，珐琅器，中世纪和文艺复兴时期艺术品以及十多幅18世纪前的欧洲油画，包括伦布兰特，维拉斯凯兹，哈尔斯和提香的名作。
At the entrance to each room, a photograph displays what it looked like in the 19th century, when this was still a private home. Although the collection remains the same as it was then, the current artful arrangement makes them look far less cluttered. Most of what was and is on view had been bought by the fourth Marquess, a prodigious art collector with a fortune so vast he could outbid almost anyone else. Lord Hertford spent most of his life in France; Hertford House became his store for what he had no room for there.
每个房间的入口都有一张照片显示该馆19世纪时的样子，当时这里依然是私宅。尽管藏品一如既往，但现在巧妙的陈设使它们显得更井井有条。现在和当时展出的大部分藏品都是由赫特福德四世侯爵收购。他是一位非凡的艺术品收藏家，阔绰的身家使他几乎能赢得每次拍卖。赫特福德勋爵大部分时间生活在法国，但那里已经没有地方容纳藏品，赫特福德公馆从而成为了他的储藏室。
One may wonder how a house belonging to one man and filled with his collection bears another's name. To simplify a complex tale: Lord Hertford bequeathed his collection to Richard Wallace, his long-time secretary, salesroom agent and illegitimate son. Wallace, whose mother was Scottish, had been raised in Paris by Lord Hertford’s mother, who pretended to be his aunt (he claimed to have learned the truth of his paternity only after his father’s death.) Wallace’s inheritance also included a splendidly furnished Paris apartment, an enchanting little chateau in the Bois de Boulogne called Bagatelle and a stupendous fortune (his aunt/grandmother also left a large fortune bequeathed by her father, a duke).
有人可能会问，为什么一间收纳了众多私人藏品的宅邸会以他人的名字命名。简单的说就是：赫特福德勋爵把他的收藏赠送给了理查德•华莱士-他多年的秘书，拍卖代理人和私生子。华莱士的母亲是苏格兰人，他由赫特福德勋爵的母亲在法国养大，后者装成是他姨母（他声称直到他父亲死后才知道自己真正的身世）。华莱士还继承了一套位于巴黎的豪华公寓，一栋位于布洛涅森林名为巴加泰勒的小别墅，还有一笔惊人的财富(他名义上的姨母，也就是他祖母也把她从其公爵父亲那里得到的巨额财产遗赠给了他。)
Richard Wallace, once flush, began adding to the collection; much of the European armour, Renaissance and medieval objects on view come from him. But mainly he devoted himself to looking after the collection and the rehabilitation of his late father’s by-then inglorious reputation. (Secretiveness, debauchery and stinginess were only some of the fourth Marquess’s well-documented attributes.) Wallace guarded the collection throughout the siege of Paris and the uprising that followed, and he gave millions to help survivors. Among his gifts were numerous cast-iron water fountains; some of them remain in place today.
理查德•华莱士发家后便开始增加新的收藏。现在展出的很多欧式盔甲，文艺复兴和中世纪藏品都是由他收集的。不过他主要致力于维护藏品并挽回已故父亲的声誉（很多记录显示赫特福德侯爵四世当时是出了名的诡异，放荡和吝啬，这还只是他恶名的冰山一角）。在普法战争的巴黎围城和随后的起义运动期间，华莱士妥善保护好了收藏品。他还捐出百万法郎帮助幸存者，其中一项就是大量的铸铁喷泉，某些保留至今。（华莱士在普法战争巴黎围城期间，捐助修建大量铸铁喷泉解决城市饮水问题，这些喷泉兼顾实用性与艺术性-译者注）
Soon after the siege, Wallace decided to move with his wife and the collection to London. While Hertford House was undergoing a major restoration and enlargement, he loaned hundreds of pictures and objects from the collection to a new London museum. The show caused a sensation. Five million people visited during the three years it was on public view. Lord Hertford’s reputation as a discerning, major collector was secured.
围城之后，华莱士决定和妻子一起把藏品搬到伦敦。在赫特福德博物馆进行大规模的翻新和扩建期间，他出租了一些收藏品给伦敦当时新建的一个博物馆。这次展出引起了轰动。在对外开放的三年期间，共有500万人次前往参观。赫特福德勋爵独具慧眼的大收藏家声誉从此开始确立。
Sir Richard Wallace died in 1890. He left everything to his wife. Before her death seven years later, Lady Wallace bequeathed the contents of Hertford House to the English people. It was, and is said to remain, the greatest ever single collection bequeathed to the nation. The ebullient Rosalind Savill (now Dame Rosalind) has been its director since 1992. She has enlivened the Wallace, intellectually as well as decoratively. But even now, with annual visitors numbering around 350,000, it remains a place to study and daydream.
理查德•华莱士于1890年去世。他把一切都留给了妻子。华莱士夫人后来把赫特福德公馆的藏品全部捐献给了英国人民，7年后她与世长辞。这至今仍是有史以来捐赠给英国最伟大的一批收藏品。现任馆长罗莎琳•德萨维尔（现在改名为戴姆•罗莎琳德）是一个热情洋溢的人。她从1992年开始便担任这一职位，让华莱士收藏馆由内至外的充满了活力。哪怕现在每年游客达到35万左右，这里依然是学习和神游的好地方。
October may produce scenes of rare frenzy at the Wallace Collection when an exhibition of 25 oils by Damien Hirst opens. He has chosen to show his work in gilded frames against walls of blue silk specially woven in Lyon. Whether this is hubris or homage, the display is bound to attract thousands of new visitors to this marvellous place.
今年10月，达米恩•赫斯特的25副油画将在华莱士收藏馆展出，届时或许会掀起一场难得的热潮。他选择把作品套上镀金的画框，挂在用蓝色丝绸布置的墙上展示，这些丝绸都是在里昂特别编制的。不管是傲慢还是尊重，这次展览必将吸引成千上万的新访客来到这个神奇的地方。
