Excerpt from Handbook to the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle<br><br>The late Mr. John Bowes and his first wife Benoite Josephine Bowes, the Countess of Montalbo, besides their residence at Streatlam Castle, near the town of Barnard Castle, had a house in Paris, and in fact principally resided in France. They were, both of them, great lovers and patrons of Art, and some time previously to the year I86a had formed the. Idea of collecting pictures and other objects of Art, partly for their own' gratification, but also with the intention of founding a Public Museum. From the time of adopting this view they systematically set themselves to acquire examples which should be adapted for this purpose, in being representative of various classes, styles, and periods of Art.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.