Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, was an enormously wealthy landowner, canal promoter and colliery owner. In 1753 he embarked on a Grand Tour with Robert Wood, travelling to Nice and Florence and reaching Rome in November 1754. There he remained until August 1755, though he had visited Naples by 22 July that year. In Italy, Bridgewater purchased works of art under Wood's guidance, most notably P90A The Destruction of the Children of Niobe (Private Collection at Ashridge), which he commissioned. In the last decade of his life he began to collect paintings enthusiastically. Especially significant was his acquisition of the Orléans collection of Italian paintings first put together by Cardinal Richelieu. He was also one of the first patrons to encourage J.M.W. Turner. See further:
P. Humfrey, 'The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater as a Collector of Old Master Paintings', Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 27, no. 2, 2015, pp. 211-25.
P.Humfrey: The Stafford Gallery, 2019.
