Berwick’s Burrell collection is rich in French and Dutch art, with medieval carvings, oriental porcelain and pictures by Degas, Daubigny & Boudin. Apart from buying from London dealers many of the items were acquired on extended purchasing trips to Europe.

Burrell began giving items to Berwick Museum in the 1940s while the ultimate fate of the bulk of his collection was still undecided. When Sir William opened the new art gallery in Berwick in 1949 it consisted almost exclusively of his donations. Berwick, therefore, had the first Burrell gallery, decades before that of Glasgow, which displays a much larger selection of Burrell’s collection in a specially built museum opened in 1983.

Right - Le Port de Pontrieux, France by Eugene Louis Boudin