Robert Walpole was the British Prime Minister between 1721 and 1742 and during his reign, he was the most powerful political figure in all of Britain. He held this post for an unrivalled tenure of twenty-one years, yet he was also known for being a man of taste when it came to collecting art. He amassed one of the most fashionable collections of art in Britain at the time. Walpole’s collection included paintings by Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt van Rijn, Ferdinand Bol and Godfrey Kneller.