The Richmond Borough Art Collection is a little-known jewel in the borough’s cultural crown and Orleans House Gallery, where the collection is stored, is now aiming to bring the collection to wider public attention with a new exhibition, writes Will Gore.

Private Passions for Public Pleasure, which opened at the Twickenham gallery last week, features highlights selected from the 2,700 oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, photographs and objects that make up the collection.

Previous exhibitions based on the borough collection have focused on individual collectors. Private Passions, on the other hand, is the first exhibition to explore the collection as a whole from the perspectives of individuals who have donated works to it, from its founder Nellie Ionides to the recent Grogan gift, that includes the painting Mother and Child, by Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes.

Mark de Novellis, the curator at Orleans House Gallery, explains: “An important part of the curatorial process has been unearthing information about individual collectors – surviving family members have been very generous with their time, reminiscences and loans.

“It is also hoped that Private Passions will generate further information on the collectors represented. I urge people to visit so they can take a tour through the people and places in the borough and almost 300 years of British art.”

The collection spans the period of the early 18th century to the present day and includes artistically significant works by a number of 18th and 19th century British landscape artists and portraitists such as Samuel Scott, William Marlow, George Hilditch and Bartholomew Dandridge.

The collection policy focuses on obtaining topographical views and landscapes depicting the borough and its environs, as well as portraits of individuals with connections to the area.

“Popular works, such as the evocative nocturnal view of Twickenham by Pether are exhibited alongside works rarely exhibited – such as the Paton and Gill display of 19th century ephemera – that have survived the test of time,” adds De Novellis.

“There is also a poodle hair suit and a necklace made of human bone. Prepare to be amazed!”

Private Passions for Public Pleasure, Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, until June 6, richmond.gov.uk/home/