ON OUR RADAR | HAPPENINGS | CABANA MAGAZINE
A Fragrant Young Benefactors' Gala at the Wallace Collection in London
The House of Creed unites with the revered English institution, The Wallace Collection, to present its inaugural Young Benefactors' Gala: a new community of multi-talented young art patrons.
📍 The Wallace Collection, London
WORDS BY SOPHIE GOODWIN | IMAGES BY JASON LLOYD EVANS & JAMES D. KELLY | HAPPENINGS | 8 JULY 2024
The director of The Wallace Collection, Dr. Xavier Bray, welcomed guests to an unforgettable evening at the institution, co-hosted by Anglo-French perfumers, The House of Creed. An elegant black-tie dinner was staged in the museum's galleries, home to one of the world’s finest collections of Rococo art and furniture.
The Honorable Daphne Guinness, Adot Gak, Marc Quinn, and incoming director of the British Museum, Nicholas Cullinan OBE, dined on filet of beef and white chocolate mousse at lavish tables dotted around three rooms: The Back State Room - home to the Caffieri chandelier made for Louis XV and given to his daughter, the Duchess of Parma, and the Sevres ship vase - and the two Dutch Galleries, where guests were seated under priceless work by Rembrandt, Jan Steel and Gerard ter Borch.
The Wallace Collection’s Young Benefactors, spearheaded by jeweller and collector, Quaid Childers, and Nada Bayoud, Head of Patrons at the Wallace Collection, cultivates a new community of talented young art patrons bound by their passion for the Wallace Collection. The Young Benefactors' Gala firmly established itself with this event as a trailblazer in the arts, bringing together a diverse and brilliant crowd for the very reason that the Wallace Collection museum was created.
Much admired for his work at the institution, Dr. Bray was seated with future patrons and the Young Benefactors' Gala committee, including Childers, Bayoud, Alexander Hankin, Joseph Spieczny, Priya Kumari, and Anna Maj Madsen.
The group convened in the Great Gallery, surrounded by the greats Poussin, Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez, van Dyck, Canaletto, at the glamorous event produced by Cabana's Creative Editorial Director, Sophie Goodwin, and Chiara di Carcaci.
Pinstripes and Peonies covered the museum in wild flowers, running down the tables and framing the fireplace and grand staircase, while Casamigos served palomas and margaritas (no colored liquids or citrus fruits to protect the paintings) under the revered work by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing.
Friends of Cabana were in attendance too. The Duke and Duchess, artist Tancredi di Carcaci, Count Edmondo di Robilant, Maya and Michele di Robilant, and Aliotto and Margarita Della Gherardesca, were all locked into conversation and laughter.