About the Museum
Waddesdon Manor is a rare example of a French Renaissance chateau situated in the heart of the English countryside. It was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the late 19th century to display his burgeoning art collection (and as a place for extravagant entertaining). Today it houses the Rothschild collections of paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Furnishings include Savonnerie carpets and tapestries from the royal Gobelins and Beauvais workshops. The art collection features paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries by well-known Dutch, Flemish and French artists and portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough and Romney. Other highlights include a spectacular mechanical elephant, once a favourite of the Shah of Persia.
Read Less
Read More
Collection Highlights
![]()
Joshua ReynoldsMrs Abington as The Comic Muse, 1764-1768![]()
Elephant automaton![]()
Carpet, 1683![]()
Suzanne de CourtPlaque depicting The Annunciation (detail), c.1600![]()
Ferdinand's three Sevres pot-pourri vases in the shape of ships, 1761
