ART
With more than 15,000 works of art and objects, the collection ranges widely in date, materials and techniques, and places of production. Waddesdon Manor is especially renowned for the quality and depth of its French 18th-century collections, particularly furniture, porcelain and textiles. The passion for this period in French art, shared by the various members of the Rothschild family who were and are associated with the Manor, extends to other areas.
These include books, drawings, paintings, clocks, architectural elements, sculpture and costume accessories. At present, only a fraction of Waddesdon Manor’s collections are online, but more objects are being added on a regular basis. Please make an appointment to see a specific piece, especially as certain categories of objects are not displayed because of their fragile nature.
Learn about the House and Collection in one of our House Tours.
Search the Collection – Coming Soon
Art Across the Estate
From 18-century statues, contemporary sculpture to award winning architecture, art that can be seen across the Waddesdon estate.
Windmill Hill
Taking full advantage of the views that attracted Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839–1898) to this part of Buckinghamshire, the Archive is on the site of a former dairy farm.
Designed by Stephen Marshall Architects of London, the building reflects the conservation and environmental concerns of the Rothschild Foundation, and provides public access to and for storage space for the important family archives at Waddesdon. It is also a place to convene discussion and debate.
Windmill Hill was conceived as a place to enjoy art and architecture. Its hilltop location is a perfect setting for contemporary art, sculpture and design.
The Dairy
The Dairy was designed to be part of the pleasure grounds of Waddesdon, where guests were taken to enjoy the milk and cream from a herd of prize shorthorn cattle, each with a porcelain nametag. Restored and extended by Lord Rothschild in the 1990s, it was refurbished in 2022 and now displays a significant collection of art.
Flint House
Winner of the RIBA House of the Year Award in 2015, the Flint House was commissioned by Lord Rothschild and designed by Charlotte Skene Catling of Skene Catling de la Peña. In the form of an elongated, stepped wedge, Flint House sits in the heart of the Waddesdon Estate, on a chalk seam that runs from Norfolk to Dover. Through exploring this geology, Skene Catling was inspired to create a building clad in flint that appears to erupt from the surrounding earth. The flints, knapped by hand by Sussex flint-workers The Flintman Company, are graduated in colour: steely grey at ground level rising to smooth white chalk blocks at the top. Facing the main building is a similarly stepped, smaller annex.
Care of the Collection
Find key details and information on how we govern and care for our Collection.