1 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,240 Translucent porcelain from China, 2 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:19,960 exquisite tapestries from France 3 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:21,520 and stained glass 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:25,880 from the monasteries and abbeys of old northern Europe. 5 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,000 9,000 priceless objects 6 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,880 representing 4,000 years of human creativity, 7 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,280 all assembled by just one man. 8 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,240 It's the richness and scale of this collection 9 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,200 which makes it so fascinating. 10 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,000 But what's equally fascinating and intriguing 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,920 is what sort of person would put a collection like this together. 12 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:53,320 That was William Burrell. 13 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,560 Burrell was a truly outstanding collector 14 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,960 and he deserves to be much better known. 15 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,160 Burrell has the most outstanding examples of Degas 16 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:05,760 in any collection in Europe. 17 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,320 There are also extraordinary examples of Chinese art, 18 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:12,640 the Islamic art collection is world-class. 19 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,680 It's an astonishing collection. 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:16,800 You will not be disappointed. 21 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:19,280 There is nothing like it in here? 22 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,600 No, not only in here, anywhere. 23 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,160 'Gifted to the city of Glasgow in 1944, 24 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,440 'the Burrell collection is so vast 25 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,680 'that less than half is on public display.' 26 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:33,480 I can't believe this is down in the store. 27 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,560 I can't believe this is down in the store! 28 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:40,360 'The story of William Burrell is also the story of Glasgow - 29 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,920 'the Second City of Empire at its peak.' 30 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,560 It's the story of a man who made a fortune out of shipping 31 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,200 and spent it on art... 32 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,960 and his very own castle. 33 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,560 It just looked like a museum. 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,240 It was absolutely beautiful. 35 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:03,080 A husband and father whose public success hid personal sadness. 36 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,080 A patron so private, he never commissioned his own portrait. 37 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,200 There's very few accounts of him, he didn't write an autobiography, 38 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,240 and yet, this is his memorial. 39 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,400 He wanted something kept together. 40 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,640 Burrell made a huge impact on the city of Glasgow, 41 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:23,600 yet we know almost nothing about him. 42 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,000 But I've always wondered what drove him to make his fortune 43 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,200 and spend a lifetime amassing this unique collection. 44 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:33,120 The family wealth had been lost, 45 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,840 and I think this was a great impetus to Willie 46 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,320 because first of all, 47 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:42,320 he wanted to regain the money which had been lost. 48 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,200 And later on, he hoped to regain the status. 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,600 Whatever motivated the man, 50 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,400 his collection ensured that his name will never be forgotten. 51 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,880 There is nothing quite like this anywhere in the world. 52 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:12,360 The Burrell Collection opened its doors in 1983 with great fanfare. 53 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:15,640 The Queen turned the key, 54 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:19,040 and for the first time a cornucopia of artefacts 55 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,280 which had languished in crates in dusty store rooms 56 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,720 was displayed for all to see in its purpose-built home, 57 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,400 some of it built into the fabric of these very walls. 58 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,600 I remember how excited I was when the Burrell opened. 59 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,240 It was the first time I'd seen 60 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,880 the wonders of the world in a modern setting. 61 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,520 And each time I come, 62 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,560 I'm rewarded when my eye catches something I've never noticed before. 63 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,200 William Burrell has been described as the Millionaire Magpie, 64 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,200 grabbing anything that glittered - 65 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,880 a first-century Roman sculpture here, 66 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,320 a seventh-century Chinese warrior there. 67 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,600 But I don't think that's true. 68 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,360 Burrell developed great passions and then he pursued them. 69 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:20,600 He spent his money carefully, very carefully, 70 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,360 amassing this extraordinary collection, 71 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,600 piece by hand-picked piece. 72 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:32,200 A collection he hoped would raise the Burrell family 73 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,480 to the highest echelons of society. 74 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,520 William Burrell didn't have a very smart beginning at all 75 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:57,200 because he was born in a three-room tenement in Glasgow, 76 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,960 and he was the third child to be born there, 77 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:02,080 so it was fairly full of people, 78 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,360 that was in 1861. 79 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:07,720 His mother was a dressmaker 80 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,920 and I'm pretty sure that she fitted all the children out 81 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,280 with clothes made by herself. 82 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:19,840 And they had to scrape to exist and he was brought up on this, 83 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:21,760 and he was made to scrape. 84 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:27,920 And he really appreciated the value of thrift and he never ever forgot. 85 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:38,240 At the end of the 19th century, 86 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:43,160 Glasgow offered many ways to get rich for those prepared to take the risk. 87 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:47,800 Burrell's grandfather started out shifting cargo on the city's canals. 88 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:51,960 But the era of industrialisation soon opened up Glasgow 89 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:53,760 to the greater riches of the Empire. 90 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,400 In just two decades, the Burrell family went from moving barges 91 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,640 to commissioning Clyde-built steamships 92 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,120 for their world wide freight business. 93 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:11,520 William left school aged just 14 to try his hand in the family firm. 94 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,920 These were William Burrell's daily surroundings, 95 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,560 Burrell & Sons offices were here in George Square 96 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,880 as it was being built 97 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,400 in the prestigious heart of this booming industrial city. 98 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,840 And a few streets away were the burgeoning commercial art gallery 99 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:34,520 and auction houses where William Burrell headed at every opportunity. 100 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,320 He started off, apparently, when he was 14 101 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,040 and he did manage to bid for a picture successfully, 102 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,920 and it was a portrait of a lady and he got it for a few shillings. 103 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,280 And he was very pleased and brought it back. 104 00:06:56,280 --> 00:06:58,840 And his father, who I think was not that way inclined, 105 00:06:58,840 --> 00:07:01,040 said, "For goodness sake, William, 106 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,760 "why don't you spend the money on a cricket bat?" 107 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,400 And then he realised that he had no frame. 108 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,200 And so he thought, "Well, 109 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,440 "I haven't got a frame and I can't afford to get a frame," 110 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:16,400 and so he took it back and resold it and lost money on the transaction. 111 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,960 'But his early mistakes as a teenage collector 112 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,960 'didn't put Willie Burrell off.' It's a treasure trove. 113 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,960 'We don't know quite where his passion for paintings came from, 114 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,040 'but Glasgow in the 1880s wasn't a bad place to start.' 115 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,800 Burrell was excited by a group of contemporary artists 116 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:40,520 known as the Glasgow Boys 117 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,800 whose work he could buy on his doorstep. 118 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:47,040 Burrell's favourite was Joseph Crawhall. 119 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,400 One of the best things about this is you get the sense of speed, 120 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,280 because the dachshund's ears are flying, the feet are going,... 121 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,720 Yes, she is not remotely steady on the bicycle. No. 122 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,880 She looks like she's wobbling and it's so delicate, 123 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:06,920 just these little touches of colour. 124 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,400 And again, in this one, you get the real sense of excitement 125 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,160 and of the huge hindquarters of this racing horse, 126 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,640 and this splash which is the tail up. 127 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,000 Yes. 128 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,400 Burrell's passion for Crawhall's work would last a lifetime. 129 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,240 But he was also starting to collect artists of international renown, 130 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,120 like James McNeill Whistler. 131 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,840 We have quite a number of lovely Whistler drawings and prints 132 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:47,800 in the collection and this is one of two pastels that we have. 133 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,440 And clearly, he loved works on paper, 134 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,760 he loved pastels and he loved colour. 135 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,000 I mean, would part of the reason 136 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,000 that he did concentrate on pastels sometimes 137 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,720 and works on paper is that they tend to be cheaper than the oils? 138 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,440 Well, there is that, too. He was canny. Yes, he was canny. 139 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,600 Um, because he's definitely buying things quite early on 140 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,600 that are not expensive, he's not buying, on the whole, 141 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,920 the larger oil paintings that are going to be more expensive. 142 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,560 But what about Whistler oils? Well, Whistler's still relatively cheap. 143 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:22,400 He's buying early on, so... Does he have any Whistler oils as well? 144 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,000 Yeah, yeah. So the value is not rocketing. 145 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,600 William Burrell bought two impressive oil paintings 146 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,360 by Whistler, spending £1500 on The Fur Jacket alone, 147 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,040 but sold them both just a few years later. 148 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,600 'Luckily for us, Burrell didn't sell all his Whistlers.' 149 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:48,840 Oh, my goodness. 150 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:50,120 It's one of Westminster. 151 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:51,360 KIRSTY GASPS 152 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,320 You can just make out the lights along the far bank. 153 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,840 And the factory chimneys, but just...just and no more. 154 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,960 And what I like about this is many artists at the time 155 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:11,000 were doing narrative paintings, paintings that have a story, 156 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,840 well, this is something that is invoking a mood, 157 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,440 and what I love is the fact that Burrell obviously cared about that. 158 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,920 I can't believe this is down in the store. 159 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:24,880 I can't believe this is down in the store! 160 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:26,920 Yeah, we should have this one on display. 161 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,200 It's a really wonderful nocturne. 162 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,000 I'm very glad he didn't sell this. 163 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,760 Burrell was not only buying and selling paintings, 164 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,160 he was also commissioning new works. 165 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,480 He asked Glasgow Boy, John Lavery, to paint his youngest sister, Mary. 166 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,480 This must be one of the most beautiful, 167 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:53,680 elegant portraits in the collection. 168 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:55,520 She's very elegant, isn't she? 169 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,160 William Burrell preferred to stay out of the limelight, 170 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:06,360 but he was happy to show off the families growing wealth 171 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,400 with this arresting portrait. 172 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,280 What this says to me is, this is my sister, 173 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,680 I want Lavery to paint her, and I want to show her off to the world. 174 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,320 William Burrell's world had changed immeasurably. 175 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,440 By the 1890s, he was at the helm of the family business, 176 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,520 and business was booming. 177 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,960 Burrell & Sons ships were now carrying cargo 178 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,760 to ever farther flung reaches of the globe. 179 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,480 And as his company and his bank balance grew, 180 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,280 so did Burrell's infatuation with buying art. 181 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,720 Letters written by Burrell's best friend, Robert Lorimer, 182 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,040 offer a rare eyewitness account of his activities. 183 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,400 "He travels pretty well all over Europe two or three times a year, 184 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,600 "visiting the regions. 185 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:13,560 "He is 36, he possesses 17 Matthew Maris's, two Whistlers, 186 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:15,560 "God knows what else. 187 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:19,480 "Really he has very fine taste. God knows where he got it." 188 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:23,760 Burrell headed to the continent 189 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,560 to make his first purchases of European art, 190 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:28,880 where the bargaining techniques he'd picked up 191 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,640 in the cutthroat world of global shipping served him very well indeed. 192 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,120 "That man's a perfect nailer. 193 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,560 "To see him tackling some of these dealers was a treat 194 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:42,120 "and in many ways I learned a lot from him." 195 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,080 The generation that Burrell belonged to were a bit more daring 196 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:49,960 in their purchases, 197 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,840 and they were interested in buying modern, European art. 198 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:55,240 And I think that's probably 199 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,400 because they were perhaps more international in their outlook. 200 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,520 And if you think about the businesses that they ran... 201 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,560 And they travelled. They travelled. 202 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:05,360 And Burrell was sending ships off here, there and everywhere. 203 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,040 And so they had a more international outlook. 204 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:15,520 'Burrell was also buying top quality French 205 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,760 'and Dutch art from a handful of dealers in Glasgow.' 206 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:20,920 So the Burrell's got at least as many Degas 207 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,800 as any other collection in the United Kingdom? Yes. 208 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,800 'And through them, some of the best modern art 209 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,640 'in the world found its way into William Burrell's hands. 210 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,200 'The collector fell for the work of a living French artist 211 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,360 'who was helping to change the face of Western art. Edgar Degas.' 212 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:44,440 This is one of Degas' most important paintings. 213 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:49,040 And it's certainly one of the best of his works that Burrell purchased. 214 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,520 The man that we're seeing here, Duranty, 215 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,560 was an art critic and novelist, and a close friend of Degas. 216 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:01,440 And in 1876 Duranty wrote a pamphlet 217 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:05,040 called The New Painting. 218 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,440 And what he was saying was, when you're doing a portrait, 219 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,320 show them in their own environment and tell us something about them. 220 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:16,040 In other words, you can look at that portrait 221 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,440 and you know without knowing what this man actually did - 222 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:24,560 a writer, completely surrounded by his books and pamphlets. 223 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,160 So this was the whole idea, 224 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,880 this idea of modernity showing real life in art. Absolutely. 225 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:35,160 And Burrell loved Degas, but one of the artists he also loved, 226 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,480 from a modern point of view, was Manet. 227 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:44,160 And this was exhibited in 1880 at an exhibition called La Vie Moderne. 228 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,800 These voyeuristic snapshots of everyday life 229 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:03,800 in Parisian streets and cafes, 230 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:06,600 and behind-the-scenes at the ballet, 231 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,280 were new and daring, 232 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,840 far beyond the posed portraits that had come before. 233 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,480 I absolutely love this, because instead of the male gaze, 234 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,880 this is a woman with field glasses 235 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,680 looking straight at Degas as he paints her. 236 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,680 So she sees him in close-up. 237 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,720 So why do you think he bought something like this? 238 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:29,760 This is extraordinary, so striking. 239 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:31,280 Well, as far as we know, 240 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,240 this is one of the very first works that he buys. 241 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,360 We know he had this by 1902. 242 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,040 It would seem to me that because he was buying it early, 243 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,240 that without realising it, he was collecting something 244 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,840 that was actually almost subversive and certainly quite provocative. 245 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:54,800 By good judgement and luck, 246 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:59,120 William Burrell amassed no fewer than 22 works by the artist, 247 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:03,160 building up the largest and finest collection of Degas 248 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,080 anywhere in the UK. 249 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,920 Why was Glasgow such a vibrant scene for art 250 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:20,840 at the end of the 1800s? 251 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,640 Well, I think it's a combination of three things - 252 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,760 first of all, there was a lot of money around, 253 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,080 and that's very important for artists 254 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,880 because there were people to support them, 255 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:35,200 the second thing is that there were these dealers, 256 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,720 these art agents, who were able to act as an interface 257 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,040 between the artist and the collector, 258 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,440 and of course, the third thing is that there were these men 259 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,040 who were very anxious to buy paintings. 260 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:03,200 'Burrell's new-found wealth made him a leading player in this art market.' 261 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,440 Was he, do you think, from an early age, a very astute businessman? 262 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:11,560 Very. Absolutely ruthless in his ship owning. 263 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:16,840 Because he used to wait until the shipyards were crying out for work 264 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,560 and he'd order a whole lot of ships at once and get them very cheap. 265 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,160 And then he used to sell when there was a boom. 266 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,520 And this is how he made money. 267 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,680 Between 1898 and 1900, just two years, 268 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:39,120 as demand for ships peaked and prices rose, Burrell sold his entire fleet. 269 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:44,360 His bold strategy reaped him huge financial rewards. 270 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,400 By the turn-of-the-century, 271 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,720 Burrell's business acumen had amassed him his first fortune. 272 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,440 Now he could step back from shipping 273 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,360 and concentrate on building his collection. 274 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,160 And that moment coincided with one of the most fabulous events 275 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:01,240 in Glasgow's cultural history - 276 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,800 the 1901 International Exhibition here in Kelvingrove Park - 277 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,640 and Burrell put himself at the heart of it. 278 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,160 He had been collecting for more than 20 years, 279 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,320 but Burrell had never put his impressive collection 280 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:23,440 on public display. 281 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:29,280 Now the time was right as people flocked to the Glasgow Exhibition 282 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,800 from all over the country to see the latest advances 283 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,320 in industry and in art. 284 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,680 And when he lent the exhibition more than 200 works, 285 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,840 Willie Burrell announced himself as an international collector of note. 286 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,040 It's the first time 287 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,760 you've got a real picture of the breadth of his collection. 288 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,440 He has some Manets and also he has some Glasgow items. 289 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,880 But the surprise is, with the mediaeval items. 290 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,200 There were tapestries there. How he acquired them, nobody knows. 291 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,040 So it's the breadth of the collection 292 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:03,680 that's really interesting. 293 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:08,440 Burrell had an international ambition, didn't he? Yes, he did. 294 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,920 And I think, really, the people he was looking at... 295 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,080 ..were the Americans. 296 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,240 And they're the big collectors, you got the Rockefellers, 297 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,440 you've got JP Morgan, and Frick, 298 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,600 and then latterly of course, Randolph Hearst. 299 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:31,200 In the middle of the 19th century, some of the richest men in America 300 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:35,320 began spending unimaginable fortunes on art and antiquities. 301 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,200 Coke and steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick 302 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,240 bought many of Europe's finest old masters. 303 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,520 And later, newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, 304 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,640 bought everything from Greek vases to Spanish furniture. 305 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,560 They wanted to furnish their grand mansions 306 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,680 and castles as a mark of their status. 307 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,120 In a sense, Burrell belongs to that kind of... 308 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,920 ..what we rather unkindly call the robber barons, 309 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,720 but those people who are really self-made people coming up 310 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,000 and buying collections, 311 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,800 forming their identity with these great collections. 312 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,360 All these industrialists were also showing that they were cultured too. 313 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,880 It wasn't just about blood and guts and steel. Oh, absolutely not. 314 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,240 I think that's absolutely right. 315 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:22,040 This was collecting of a high order. 316 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:33,160 We don't know exactly where Burrell started collecting mediaeval art. 317 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:36,200 He may have picked up his taste on family holidays to Holland 318 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,960 and France, perhaps encouraged by his mother, 319 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,360 who also fancied herself a collector. 320 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,480 But over six decades, Burrell assembled one of the finest 321 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,160 collections of Northern European, mediaeval, Gothic, 322 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,360 and early Renaissance art ever amassed by one man. 323 00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:58,680 Here. 324 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:00,600 There's no space to do that 325 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,480 otherwise I would go in the middle now. 326 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,400 These 14th century stained-glass panels from a Carmelite monastery 327 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,440 in Boppard on Rhine in Germany survived iconoclasm 328 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,120 and the Napoleonic wars and are also 329 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:17,080 some of the most beautiful glass Burrell collected. 330 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,800 They have been up on display since the museum opened 331 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:25,040 and now need to come down for conservation. 332 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,840 There is always an unknown quantity to it. 333 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,520 Until you have done it, you never know. 334 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,560 We always have a contingency plan. 335 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,360 What is the worst that could happen? 336 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,880 I suppose the worst that could happen would be 337 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,640 that it slips and falls. 338 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:42,120 OK, I have got hold of this. It is coming down. 339 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,160 It will be really exciting to see them in the workshop 340 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,000 and start exploring what went on with them 341 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,040 before they went on display here at the Burrell. 342 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,320 In a lifetime of collecting, William Burrell 343 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,040 steadily put together one of the finest 344 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,400 and most comprehensive collections of stained glass in the world. 345 00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:13,560 What were some of his best bargains? 346 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,240 The Fawsley Hall glass, this wonderful series of heraldic panels, 347 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,080 early 16th century, 348 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,720 one family from an early 16th century house in Northamptonshire. 349 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,440 He pursues them long and hard, from before the war 350 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,880 until after the war, and gets them really quite cheaply. 351 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,680 And things like the prophet Jeremiah, from St Denis, 352 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,000 which he paid £114 for. 353 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:40,400 It is from the first Gothic church, built by Abbot Suger, 354 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,960 this great figure in 12th century French society. 355 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,760 And it is one of the windows there. 356 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,560 And of course, at the time, nobody knew it came from there. 357 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,360 So that was an amazing bargain. 358 00:22:50,360 --> 00:22:52,960 You can point to the collection and find all sorts of things 359 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:55,040 he actually bought really rather well. 360 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:01,080 William Burrell taught himself about every aspect of his collection. 361 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,040 And as his knowledge and his contacts book grew, 362 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,800 he was able to buy better and better. 363 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,680 He started with a very curious mind as a child, 364 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,640 and he never stopped. 365 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,560 He was always asking dealers, 366 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,200 and finding out about different things, and he was really interested 367 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,320 in their provenance, and where they come from, what they meant. 368 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,720 Burrell sought out a handful 369 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:35,440 of exceptional objects with royal connections. 370 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:41,120 One piece on display bore witness to a fateful night in English history. 371 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:49,240 When I first came to the Burrell Collection it was down in the store. 372 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,840 I found it and I looked at it and I thought, "What is this?!" 373 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,360 And it turns out to be the matrimonial bedhead that was 374 00:23:57,360 --> 00:24:01,920 made for the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. 375 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,200 So they would have slept in this on their wedding night? Yes. 376 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,960 It is political and also slightly erotic. 377 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,760 So it is a rare combination, shall we say... Interesting combination. 378 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,640 So in the centre we have got an inscription that actually 379 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,800 states exactly who Henry is. 380 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,080 King of England, and of France, Lord of Ireland, 381 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,240 and the Chief and Supreme Head of the Church of All England. 382 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,360 So that is the political bit. That is the political bit. 383 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:33,960 What is the erotic bit? 384 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,200 Well, the carving, we have got a grown-up woman on this side 385 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,400 and the man on your side. 386 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,920 A very prominent codpiece. 387 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,360 A very prominent codpiece. Which was fashionable at the time. 388 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:49,840 He is holding a large fruit, 389 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,240 emphasising the fruitfulness of the union. 390 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,400 And on this side, we have got a very fashionably dressed lady. 391 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,080 In one hand, the serpent, or the snake, and then the other, 392 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,040 her right hand, she is holding an upturned sword. 393 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:08,680 So as I usually say to the guides here, interpret as desired! 394 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,120 So that of course is the idea... The idea of virility. 395 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:14,880 And this is not of course a rendition of Anne of Cleves, 396 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,200 she was a rather not very attractive person. 397 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,560 Well, some of the stories are that they played cards all night. 398 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,840 We don't know if that is true. We will never know. 399 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,080 Only the bedhead knows. 400 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,000 And I find that really exciting, 401 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,520 that this bedhead was actually there on that night. 402 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,960 With objects like the king's bedhead, 403 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,320 Burrell bought his own piece of royal history. 404 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,760 But he was just as interested in precious things 405 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,200 used by ordinary people. 406 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,080 These carvings are some of the few remaining examples 407 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,160 of a lost mediaeval craft form, 408 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,560 that had miraculously survived the Reformation. 409 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:04,720 Religious sculptures like these 410 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,600 serve to remind illiterate churchgoers of the Bible stories, 411 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,000 and were carved from English alabaster in the 14th century. 412 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,840 Burrell also got his hands on some even rarer alabasters 413 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,080 designed as prayer objects for the home. 414 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,840 There are others, and other museums, but this is something that 415 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:32,320 most museums in the world would give anything for. Yes. 416 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,280 This is the head of St John the Baptist, after he was beheaded, 417 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,960 being carried on a platter. 418 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,000 At the top, we have got the soul being carried to heaven by angels. 419 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:49,400 Below, the resurrecting Christ, coming out of the tomb. 420 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,280 So it is a very Catholic image and, after the Reformation, 421 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,000 it would be very dangerous indeed 422 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,280 to be found with something like this in your home. 423 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,160 Burrell collected a royal flush of mediaeval artefacts. 424 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,040 From precious glass, to sculpture and textiles, 425 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,280 and intricately woven tapestries, 426 00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:13,000 which had always conferred status in society. 427 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:18,160 Perhaps that was why Burrell liked these best of all. 428 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,560 Yes, he actually says in some of his correspondence 429 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,200 that he thinks tapestries 430 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,200 are possibly the most important part of his collection, in his own view. 431 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,840 This is an allegory, charity overcoming envy. 432 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:37,040 So, charity being a virtue is attacking envy, 433 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:39,400 who is one of the vices. 434 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,440 Obviously managing very well. She is, managing very well. 435 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:47,360 She is holding a sword and she is just about to strike him down. 436 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,840 This tapestry is about 500 years old and was made in the area 437 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,800 nowadays called the southern Netherlands. 438 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,680 One of the most important tapestry weaving centres 439 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:05,040 of the known world at that time. 440 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:16,480 Burrell collected more than 200 important tapestries. 441 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:21,560 Ranging from the allegorical to the heraldic. 442 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:23,360 And the playful. 443 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,840 I really don't know where to begin with this tapestry. 444 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:35,720 There is just so much to see and it just looks so glorious. 445 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,160 Yes, and it is actually one of our favourites. 446 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,240 Especially for school parties that come in, 447 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,520 they absolutely love this tapestry. 448 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,200 This is called "Preparing To Hunt Rabbits With Ferrets". 449 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,200 Is it meant to be fun? Are you meant to be looking for things? 450 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:50,920 Because I am seeing things all the time 451 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,360 that I perhaps didn't see two or three minutes ago. 452 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:55,200 I think it is meant to be fun. 453 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,000 It is actually one of three tapestries 454 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,240 from the same kind of series. 455 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,520 The other two are in San Francisco and the Louvre in Paris. 456 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:08,840 Although it looks quite simple, to tapestry connoisseurs 457 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,440 this is actually the height of tapestry design. 458 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,200 And that is because the figures are actually jigsawed together 459 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:17,080 to fill the whole space. 460 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,080 I am sure that sitting her there are lots of things I haven't seen yet. 461 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,200 As well as rabbit holes you have this strange looking bear. 462 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,600 Yes, he had a good eye for tapestries. He knew what he wanted. 463 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:33,120 As I say, to connoisseurs it is very special. 464 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,400 What do you think sparks Burrell's love of mediaeval art? 465 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,120 It is certainly not for the religious input. 466 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,160 I think the tapestries by and large show that. 467 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,400 But again it is really sort of Gothic that he is really keen on. 468 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:56,680 And probably the reason is that he likes the kind of objects, 469 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,520 initially anyway, which would furnish 470 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,880 the kind of house he wants to be in. 471 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:07,280 It may be partly an aspiration to kind of have a baronial style, 472 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,960 which you see from this sort of genuine, old houses. 473 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,160 That is what I think he likes. 474 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,640 And I think initially it is a furnishing thing. 475 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,160 Burrell was eager to settle down. 476 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,240 He found a suitable wife in Constance Mitchell 477 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,120 who was also from a Glasgow shipping family. 478 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:36,320 And the newlyweds moved into a smart townhouse in Glasgow's West End. 479 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:37,680 He called on his friend 480 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,440 and architect Robert Lorimer to refashion the interiors. 481 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,080 'I have at last gotten to enthuse a bit over his house. 482 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,320 'Seeing his Gothic tapestries hung up in his dining room 483 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,160 'is what did it. 484 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,040 'His dining room is now to be tapestry all-around. 485 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,840 'The three Gothic hunting scenes he had in the Glasgow exhibition 486 00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:58,280 'just fill one side. 487 00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,160 'And he is going to have a trip round the continent in the spring 488 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,240 'to try to find some more.' 489 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,240 Soon the house was ready and a baby was on the way. 490 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,640 William had grand family plans. 491 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,960 He wanted to father a dynasty of Burrells. 492 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,520 And the first thing he did, he was delighted, he rushed out, 493 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,320 and he got Lorimer to make him a beautiful cradle for the baby. 494 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,840 I do not know how much Constance had to do with it, 495 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,280 but they went absolutely overboard. 496 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,360 And the child duly arrived. 497 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,120 But in those days all births of course took place in the home 498 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:36,760 and it turned out that that was a very difficult birth and it was 499 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,160 not the son and heir that they were hoping for, it was a daughter. 500 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,840 The Burrells named their daughter Marion. 501 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:52,800 But Constance was warned that having another baby would endanger her life. 502 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:57,080 William was forced to give up the idea of fathering a dynasty. 503 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,120 And with his ambitions for a male heir thwarted, 504 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,520 he threw himself wholeheartedly into his obsession for collecting. 505 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,120 Astonishingly, for the first 50 years of his life, 506 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,880 Burrell kept no records of his purchases. 507 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,560 But as the collection grew, 508 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,040 he realised he needed to keep track of it. 509 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,720 From 1911 until he died almost 50 years later, he hand-wrote 510 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,080 a record of almost every object he bought in one of these 28 notebooks. 511 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:43,080 And this is what, just a jotter? Just a school exercise book. 512 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:47,120 That is what he used. All in order, all in order. That's right. 513 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:48,720 1911 to 1914. 514 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,320 Yes, it gives you the date bought, 515 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:54,680 from whom he has bought it, a description. 516 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:59,120 It is the meticulous work of a businessman. Very much so. 517 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,920 If you look at another page, we have got sketches of the things he saw. 518 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,200 So this is Burrell actually drawing his purchases? Himself! 519 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:12,920 Yes, of course, 1911, catalogues did not have photographs, 520 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,760 so there is nothing to remind you, you have to do sketches, 521 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,320 have something that reminds you of what you are looking at. 522 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,840 And of course he buys this piece 523 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,160 and it is a pretty good drawing, actually. 524 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,880 So beautifully done, as if he is doing some kind of lecture, 525 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,320 writing up a lecture. 526 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:29,920 That's right. 527 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,200 I think that's amazing, that he does that. 528 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,760 He may be amassing a collection, 529 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:37,240 but he does not have lots of assistants and staff. 530 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,240 He is doing it himself. That is right. A very personal thing. 531 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:43,840 And that is the nice thing about Burrell. 532 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:49,440 Many collectors as rich as he was would buy mountains of stuff, 533 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,640 probably not even seeing what they were buying. He saw everything. 534 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,400 He saw everything. And it is completely the opposite 535 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,640 of what the mythology is about Burrell, 536 00:33:57,640 --> 00:33:59,680 that he was this magpie who bought everything, 537 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,040 that it was indiscriminate. 538 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,000 Burrell's passion is here in his pencil. Yes. 539 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,280 Burrell's latest passion was for ancient Chinese artefacts. 540 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,400 1911 was the year he started his purchase books, 541 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,880 but also a key date in Chinese history. 542 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:24,560 When the imperial dynasty fell, China started to fragment, 543 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,600 and the noble families sold off their collections, 544 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,920 allowing Western collectors to acquire Chinese art. 545 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,160 I think this case probably has some of the best ceramics 546 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,240 in the Burrell collection. 547 00:34:43,240 --> 00:34:44,920 14th century. 548 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:49,320 Translucent, it is beautiful. Absolutely. 14th century porcelain. 549 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,400 Underglazed copper oxide. Very experimental. 550 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,560 It is a very difficult oxide to fire correctly. 551 00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,080 Burrell was collecting this, was he, for the sheer beauty of it? 552 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,240 Or because he knew it was valuable? What was the impetus? 553 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:07,320 Again we have to pick up the clues. 554 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,280 He had a very sort of personal connection with his objects. 555 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:16,200 Everything he bought, he looked at, he chose, and he had a very good eye. 556 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,760 The quality of its manufacture. He was interested in how things were made. 557 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:23,560 How things are... yes. And the quality of craftsmanship and it's perfect condition. 558 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,560 And it's perfect. Perfect condition. 559 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:39,480 This is a fantastic example of an eighth-century burial figure 560 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,960 and objects like this were made specifically as tomb artefacts. 561 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,640 They were there to serve the dead, not the living. 562 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,400 So I think what amazed Western collectors was the fact that 563 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,800 you had so much detail and so much vitality within what were really 564 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:57,920 things that would never be seen once they were buried. 565 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:04,000 And in terms of Chinese collectors, these would have been taboo. 566 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:09,240 So when these were discovered in the 1910s, '20s and '30s, 567 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:13,280 from excavated tombs, they were of fascination to Western collectors, 568 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:18,200 I think primarily because they hadn't seen anything like this before. 569 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,160 But obviously it very much followed the Western sculptural tradition. 570 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,680 Burrell collected more than 1,200 ceramics, bronzes and jades. 571 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,040 With the Chinese collection spanning each and every dynasty, 572 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,320 he built up a true connoisseur's set. 573 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,240 But there was something deeper 574 00:36:52,240 --> 00:36:55,560 motivating Burrell's compulsive yet careful collecting. 575 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:10,800 Before William made his money as a ship owner, 576 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,920 commissioning and selling ships built here on the River Clyde, 577 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:20,360 and even before William's grandfather came to Scotland to try his luck on the waterways, 578 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,200 the Burrells were landed gentry 579 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,240 who kept royal company in their native Northumberland 580 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,560 until the family money was recklessly gambled away. 581 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:33,800 Willie Burrell loved stories 582 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,440 and the family were brought up on this tale 583 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,680 of how the family wealth had been lost 584 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:44,280 and I think this was a great impetus to Willie because first of all he wanted to... 585 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,680 regain the money which had been lost. 586 00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:50,720 And later on, he hoped to regain the status. 587 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:12,360 Willie Burrell was determined to make the family name great once again. 588 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:17,960 He was a romantic. 589 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:21,560 We had a hard side and a soft side and he had a very romantic side. 590 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:28,200 He loved the stories of Walter Scott and history and pageantry and heraldry. 591 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:34,040 And he wanted a setting fitting for the things that he particularly enjoyed. 592 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,400 This extraordinary place is Hutton Castle. 593 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,000 William Burrell wanted the perfect home in which to put 594 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,320 his treasured hoard. This is it. 595 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,040 He spent 12 years redesigning it within an inch of its life 596 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,760 and finally, in 1927, he moved in with his wife Constance 597 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:33,640 and his daughter Marion. 598 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,760 It was to be his home for the next 30 years. 599 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:50,440 John Pringle worked in Burrell's garden. 600 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,600 The first time I came here was with the school. 601 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,880 When I was about 12 I used to come gardening 602 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,800 from half seven to 12 o'clock. 603 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,720 On a Saturday? On a Saturday. 604 00:40:03,720 --> 00:40:06,040 And did Sir William pay you for that? 605 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,600 Sixpence an hour. We got half a crown each. 606 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:14,480 And did you see Sir William at that time or not? At half nine he came out. 607 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,120 He stayed with us till dinner time, sitting on his shooting stick. 608 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,160 You saw how many of the different antiques he was putting in here. 609 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:26,440 What was it like? Absolutely full of carpets. 610 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,080 All you could smell was mothballs. But he had everything. 611 00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:34,560 He had weapons, furniture... I liked the suits of armour. 612 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:38,040 They were really great. There was one each side of the door. 613 00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,840 I always remember that. They didn't live in that bit, though, did they? 614 00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:46,240 No, no, they'd be more up here. This was chock-full of antiques. 615 00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:51,200 Right. It just looked like a museum. Absolutely beautiful. 616 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:54,840 Statues, some furniture but he had everything. 617 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:03,040 Burrell had great expectations of his castle. 618 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,560 And of his only daughter, Marion. 619 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,600 He had her educated by French governesses 620 00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:11,760 and enjoyed schooling her in the collection. 621 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,120 William and Connie took Marion on holidays 622 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:17,200 and buying trips to exotic locations. 623 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:21,640 Her father was very ambitious and autocratic. 624 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:23,240 When she was very young, 625 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:25,160 he saw her potential 626 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,360 and decided that he would mould her 627 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:29,680 in his own way. 628 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:36,360 Burrell wanted Marion to marry into the aristocracy 629 00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,880 and when she came of age, he spent a fortune on presenting her 630 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:44,760 to the pick of the country's most eligible titled bachelors. 631 00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,040 But the millionaire collector was suspicious 632 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:50,040 the suitors were after his money 633 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:54,480 and no one was good enough for Burrell's daughter. 634 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,680 She didn't know that her third engagement had been broken 635 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,640 until she read it in her morning paper. 636 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,200 Her father had put in a notice 637 00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:07,560 without a word either to her or to her future husband. 638 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:13,920 And so she was absolutely blazing. She said, "Right, that's it. 639 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:17,320 "I will never marry." And she jolly well meant it. 640 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,200 William's grand plans for Marion had failed. 641 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,560 And her relationship with her parents never fully recovered. 642 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:31,800 Connie, it seems, 643 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:35,880 couldn't forgive her daughter for the traumatic birth she had endured 644 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:40,920 but without a husband or a decent allowance, Marion was bound to her parents. 645 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,640 Did you ever hear her speaking ill of her parents, though? 646 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,400 She once said to me in the boiler house... 647 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:58,080 she was nearly in tears, you know. "Mum has never loved me." 648 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,320 I always remember that. 649 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,560 That's one of the last times I spoke to her at Hutton Castle. 650 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:13,960 Today, Hutton Castle is in private hands and is not open to the public. 651 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,160 But little remains here of the interiors Burrell went to 652 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,880 so much trouble and expense to create. 653 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,960 After his death, the castle was stripped of its fixtures and fittings. 654 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:28,200 But we can get a glimpse of how he lived from the three rooms 655 00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:33,080 that have been painstakingly recreated at the Burrell Collection. 656 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,200 So are these the proportions of the room as it was in Hutton? 657 00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:40,040 Yes, they're as near as they could possibly be. Height as well? 658 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,840 Yes, everything. Originally, he'd actually said that 659 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,400 he would have liked up to 12 of the rooms from Hutton Castle to be 660 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,520 produced in the museum, which would have included bedrooms as well. 661 00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:52,880 So this would be incredibly fashionable 662 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:58,760 for a kind of magnate to have a place like this with the room like this. Yes. 663 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:04,040 I mean, William Randolph Hearst, his homes were like this but larger. 664 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:09,640 And the stained glass, presumably she had saved that stained glass up for Hutton. Yes. 665 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:13,360 Unfortunately, there was too much to have on display in Hutton, 666 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,240 even though Hutton was huge. 667 00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:17,760 I suppose it enlivens the room, you know. 668 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:21,960 They were literally showrooms. They were kept locked most of the time. 669 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:25,480 They were where he put the stars of his collection 670 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:30,000 and important visitors would be brought in and shown around. 671 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,520 But I don't think that the family would have come in 672 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:34,840 and sat around the fire. 673 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:36,480 No. Or skited along the table. 674 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,400 Owning Hutton Castle gave Burrell the chance 675 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,000 to buy on a far grander scale than before. 676 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,520 Even in the museum, some objects are so big and delicate 677 00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,160 that they can't be kept on permanent display. 678 00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,840 So it's a real treat for me to get a rare viewing 679 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:01,720 of an item that really is a one-off. 680 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:06,840 It looks so unprepossessing. It's a bit of gingham at the moment. 681 00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:11,200 I feel there is something... You will not be disappointed! 682 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,240 It is a beautiful thing to see. Nothing else like it in here? 683 00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:17,920 No, not only in here, anywhere. 684 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:20,800 The pattern of this carpet was never repeated. 685 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,000 It is an absolutely unique object. 686 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,160 Can you line it up against... 687 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,960 There are water channels being unravelled. 688 00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:39,440 Fish and duck. In the water channels. 689 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:41,640 Lots of trees and flowers. 690 00:45:52,240 --> 00:45:55,160 There we are. Look at that. Gosh! 691 00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:00,960 So what are we actually seeing here? 692 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:04,400 This is the famous Wagner Garden Carpet. 693 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:07,960 It's a Persian carpet laid out as a walled garden. 694 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:14,840 The carpet makers and designers are trying to create a garden 695 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,320 that represents the earthly paradise 696 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,480 that is a mirror of the heavenly one. 697 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,120 It is obviously a thing of infinite beauty. 698 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:28,160 Isn't it? Do you want to get closer? How close can I get, though? 699 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:32,120 If you take your shoes off you can go right up to the edge. OK. 700 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:39,000 So are we allowed to walk on the edge? No, just on the tarpaulin. 701 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:43,000 But you can lean over if you like, it's an amazing object. 702 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:51,360 What are the main symbols that you would be 703 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,800 looking for in a carpet like this. What does it tell you? 704 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:58,440 If you sit just a metre in, you get this amazing panoramic feel 705 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:01,840 that you are in a garden, as opposed to on a garden. 706 00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:04,360 All the trees in the outer... 707 00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:07,560 Follow a line. Follow a line. 708 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,880 As you get to the centre of the carpet, 709 00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,920 the trees start to change direction. 710 00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,640 Look at these birds, they are beautiful. Storks. 711 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,040 We've got ducks up there flying. 712 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:25,640 And you can see there are lots of little tiny repairs. 713 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:31,200 It is very rare to come across an early 17th century that has no 714 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,640 repairs at all. That means it was never used. 715 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,720 There is a lot of quirky humour in it, 716 00:47:37,720 --> 00:47:41,440 in the way they have depicted the animals and their relationships. 717 00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:45,120 There is a lot of fun. I think my favourite is the little rabbits. 718 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:46,240 The rabbits, yes. 719 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,160 Burrell gave this beautiful piece pride of place in the drawing room 720 00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:57,200 of Hutton Castle. 721 00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:59,960 It is just one of over 400 Persian 722 00:47:59,960 --> 00:48:02,640 and Islamic artefacts that he amassed. 723 00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:15,600 Well, of course, in addition to the carpets, the other Islamic textiles 724 00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:18,760 that Burrell lived with are these suzanis. 725 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:20,560 They are wall-hangings. 726 00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:24,680 Burrell used them as bedspreads. 727 00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:26,560 What, at Hutton Castle? Yes. 728 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:28,560 It is extraordinary because at the moment, 729 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:32,600 suzanis are incredibly popular. Designers use them all the time. 730 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,120 But they are factory made. But this is a different thing. 731 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:36,560 Very different. 732 00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:39,440 These are made by women at home. 733 00:48:39,440 --> 00:48:43,360 The traditions starts in the mid-18th century of producing suzanis 734 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:49,160 as dowry pieces. So it is loaded with symbolism and beauty. 735 00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:53,960 So that she shows off in her new marital home how important she was 736 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:55,240 and loved by her family. 737 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:01,320 The tulip is very important in Turkish life. 738 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:04,360 The tulip represents God. 739 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:06,080 At the very top roundel, 740 00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:10,600 can you see the serrated leaves that project out from the centre? 741 00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:15,680 These represent kitchen knives disguised here! 742 00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:20,640 Kitchen knives are very useful as a domestic tool and for protection. 743 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:25,920 So you can see the beliefs being loaded onto this beautiful suzani. 744 00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:32,040 And of course, they invested a lifetime's effort in producing them. 745 00:49:32,040 --> 00:49:36,800 This is one of the ones that was bought in London in May 1925. 746 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:40,120 And this was all because he wanted to cover the beds at Hutton Castle? 747 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:42,240 He understood them to be a bedspread. 748 00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:46,120 So I think he would be even more pleased to discover the whole story 749 00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:49,200 behind them. They are actually wall hangings, 750 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:55,240 to decorate the interior walls of the bride's room in her new marital home. 751 00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,800 Burrell was king of his castle, surrounded by his treasures. 752 00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:13,440 Soon the castle was full, 753 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:17,000 packed to the gunwales with stained glass, carpets and furniture. 754 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:22,120 But Sir William kept on going. Perhaps by now he was obsessed. 755 00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:26,000 A grand old man who still loved the thrill of the chase. 756 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:34,040 But as he entered his 70s, Burrell began to worry about what 757 00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:37,400 would happen to his lifetime's work after his death. 758 00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:42,520 Alive, Burrell was curator of his own collection, 759 00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:46,800 but without him, who would save his precious hoard from being disbursed? 760 00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:51,240 His relationship with his only child was in tatters. 761 00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:54,360 To his mind, Burrell effectively had no heir. 762 00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,760 He realised the only way to keep the collection together 763 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:04,720 and secure his lasting reputation was to gift it to the public. 764 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:08,880 Eventually, he decided to give the entire collection to Glasgow, 765 00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:10,560 the city that made his fortune. 766 00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:17,480 And now Burrell's collection was bound for public display, he started 767 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:22,080 to buy spectacular objects that would impress visitors to a museum. 768 00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,960 Perhaps one of the most famous items in the Burrell collection... 769 00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:30,080 Certainly one of the most popular, apparently. Absolutely. 770 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:32,440 He is sitting out, he is highly glazed, is that why 771 00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:35,960 he can sit out and there's not a worry if somebody touches him? 772 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:40,040 Absolutely, but of course you should never touch items. 773 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:41,640 Ceramics are very robust. 774 00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:45,200 The only problem is when you drop them. 775 00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:47,720 But otherwise, they'll put up with temperature changes, 776 00:51:47,720 --> 00:51:50,720 they'll put up with sunlight and they will put up with people 777 00:51:50,720 --> 00:51:55,400 touching them because that glaze is very robust. When does he buy this? 778 00:51:55,400 --> 00:51:58,880 Burrell buys this in December 1943. 779 00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:03,400 It is really on the cusp of his gifting the collection to the 780 00:52:03,400 --> 00:52:07,240 city of Glasgow. This is the signal that he is no longer domestic? 781 00:52:07,240 --> 00:52:13,080 That is right. He's moving from being a private collector to collecting for a museum. 782 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,880 We are looking at larger scale objects, 783 00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:19,560 things that will now form part of a national collection. 784 00:52:22,240 --> 00:52:25,160 So how many pieces in all, are in Burrell's china...? 785 00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:30,640 Now Burrell had even grander plans for his collection. 786 00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:34,080 He wanted to tell the full story of civilisation 787 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,040 and so in the last ten years of his life, he tried to fill 788 00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:41,240 in the gaps with works from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. 789 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,560 But as well as being a completist Burrell was also an opportunist. 790 00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:52,480 When more extravagant collectors such as William Randolph Hearst 791 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,360 were forced to sell off large portions of their hoards 792 00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,800 in the Depression in the 1930s, the more cautious Burrell 793 00:52:58,800 --> 00:52:59,800 was ready to buy. 794 00:53:00,920 --> 00:53:04,480 What I love about the Burrell is you have these series of lovely, 795 00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:10,360 welcoming doors. Absolutely. Each one, different. 796 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:16,520 This one is just amazing. It still seems to me jaw dropping. 797 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:21,400 Well, they are not just threshold points, are they? 798 00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:23,480 They are sort of entrance and egress points. 799 00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:28,200 Here, this is a classic example of an English 16th century castle 800 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,320 entrance which was meant to impress. 801 00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:34,080 It comes from Hornby Castle in Yorkshire. Where did he get it? 802 00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:36,280 He got it from Randolph Hearst's collection. 803 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:38,200 It was part of a job lot of stonework, 804 00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,040 incorporating some great Xanadu, one of the great Hearstian buildings. 805 00:53:42,040 --> 00:53:44,760 But of course, Hearst's empire collapsed so it all 806 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:49,240 came on the market and Burrell bought the whole collection for £600. 807 00:53:49,240 --> 00:53:52,840 He bought this one on its own for £150, 808 00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:54,840 a fraction of what Hearst must have paid for it. 809 00:53:54,840 --> 00:53:57,360 An absolute fraction. 810 00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:01,800 And Burrell eventually wanted this to be incorporated in whatever 811 00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:04,520 building housed the Burrell? Absolutely, absolutely. 812 00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:07,680 It is a kind of triumphant frontispiece to the collection. 813 00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:11,120 A combination of object, landscape, architecture. It is perfect. 814 00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:26,800 The architectural stonework Burrell snapped up from Hearst's sale, 815 00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:31,040 now forms one of the most arresting features of the collection. 816 00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:35,160 He had the foresight to buy for the very fabric of a building 817 00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:36,280 he would never see. 818 00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:43,720 And Burrell kept on buying until the very end. 819 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:48,600 This is a very poignant document 820 00:54:48,600 --> 00:54:52,000 because this is the last of Burrell's purchase books. 821 00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:55,960 It is from 1955 to 1957. 822 00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:59,880 Gosh, you can see his annotations of his sums of money. 823 00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:06,080 His running totals, yes. Still. In 1955 he was 95? Yes. 824 00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:10,040 It still reads like a ledger book. Greco-Egyptian statuette. 825 00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,880 Gosh, he is buying a lot of Egyptian stuff. He is. 826 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:16,200 He is filling out the collection at this stage. 827 00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:20,760 Henry VIII oak games table from Sotheby's, via Partridge and Sons. 828 00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:22,840 That reads like a catalogue entry. 829 00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:26,960 I think he was quite keen to get the accurate descriptions in. 830 00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:32,440 Look at this. Gosh, this are his final entries. 831 00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:38,880 You can see the writing has all changed. Yes, yes. 832 00:55:40,680 --> 00:55:42,720 This is the end of a life of collecting. 833 00:55:44,880 --> 00:55:48,680 But the mind is as sharp as ever to the end. 834 00:55:48,680 --> 00:55:53,400 There is an interesting comment said by Murray Adams-Acton, 835 00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:57,200 one of his agents, who wrote this letter saying, 836 00:55:57,200 --> 00:55:59,720 "I have heard he has stopped collecting. 837 00:55:59,720 --> 00:56:02,680 "Well, if so, he hasn't done too badly." 838 00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,280 And I think that is a pretty good epitaph. 839 00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:08,760 Burrell would have liked that. I think he would have done. 840 00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:16,240 William Burrell died at Hutton Castle in 1958. 841 00:56:16,240 --> 00:56:20,840 He had lived for almost 100 years and amassed a huge 842 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:22,960 and extraordinary collection, 843 00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:27,560 without inherited money or the vast fortune of a Hearst or a Frick. 844 00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:40,920 Burrell left it all to the people of Glasgow. 845 00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:45,400 But the stipulations he imposed meant the collection did not 846 00:56:45,400 --> 00:56:47,880 find a home of its own for decades. 847 00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:53,440 It wasn't until 1983 that the Burrell Collection finally 848 00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:56,320 opened its Tudor castle doors to the public. 849 00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:02,320 Because it is the collection of one man. 850 00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:09,760 And I just love being able to see him reflected in the tapestries, 851 00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:13,040 in the stained glass, the little jokey things that he liked. 852 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:15,960 The Madonnas and church things that he liked. 853 00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:21,280 The human aspect of people working and people living 854 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:23,080 and this is what he cared about. 855 00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:24,840 That's what I love about the collection. 856 00:57:38,520 --> 00:57:41,560 Collecting was William Burrell's abiding passion 857 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:43,800 and the world was his oyster. 858 00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:46,240 Like the American magnates such as Frick, 859 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:48,840 he saw his route to greatness being through art. 860 00:57:48,840 --> 00:57:51,800 He did not want to be defined as a man who made his fortune by buying 861 00:57:51,800 --> 00:57:56,160 and selling cargo ships, but rather as a man of culture and learning. 862 00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:59,560 He may seem elusive because he never wrote about his artefacts. 863 00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:03,280 Except he did, in his purchase books. And he is here. 864 00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:05,120 This is his monument. 865 00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:07,600 The collection was his gift to us 866 00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:09,800 and there will never be another one like it.