The collection of Pauline, Lady Rumbold (1927–2008)

Daughter of playboy aristocrat David Tennant and actress Hermione Baddeley, Pauline, Lady Rumbold grew up in the Bohemian world of pre-war Soho and in later years formed friendships with several leading artists of the English avant-garde, among them Lucian Freud and John Craxton, whose work she actively promoted and collected. By the time of her death in 2009 she had amassed well over 100 pictures, which filled the walls of her historic town house in Wilton, near Salisbury. A selection of these pictures was offered for sale by auction, and it is a tribute to her achievements as a collector that all were sold for a total far above the estimate.