0:00:13 > 0:00:15Translucent porcelain from China,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19exquisite tapestries from France
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and stained glass
0:00:21 > 0:00:25from the monasteries and abbeys of old northern Europe.
0:00:29 > 0:00:329,000 priceless objects
0:00:32 > 0:00:37representing 4,000 years of human creativity,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40all assembled by just one man.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43It's the richness and scale of this collection
0:00:43 > 0:00:45which makes it so fascinating.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48But what's equally fascinating and intriguing
0:00:48 > 0:00:51is what sort of person would put a collection like this together.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53That was William Burrell.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Burrell was a truly outstanding collector
0:00:58 > 0:01:00and he deserves to be much better known.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Burrell has the most outstanding examples of Degas
0:01:03 > 0:01:05in any collection in Europe.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08There are also extraordinary examples of Chinese art,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12the Islamic art collection is world-class.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14It's an astonishing collection.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16You will not be disappointed.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19There is nothing like it in here?
0:01:19 > 0:01:21No, not only in here, anywhere.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25'Gifted to the city of Glasgow in 1944,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28'the Burrell collection is so vast
0:01:28 > 0:01:31'that less than half is on public display.'
0:01:31 > 0:01:33I can't believe this is down in the store.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36I can't believe this is down in the store!
0:01:36 > 0:01:40'The story of William Burrell is also the story of Glasgow -
0:01:40 > 0:01:42'the Second City of Empire at its peak.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:47It's the story of a man who made a fortune out of shipping
0:01:47 > 0:01:48and spent it on art...
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and his very own castle.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54It just looked like a museum.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55It was absolutely beautiful.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02A husband and father whose public success hid personal sadness.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06A patron so private, he never commissioned his own portrait.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09There's very few accounts of him, he didn't write an autobiography,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and yet, this is his memorial.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15He wanted something kept together.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Burrell made a huge impact on the city of Glasgow,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23yet we know almost nothing about him.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26But I've always wondered what drove him to make his fortune
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and spend a lifetime amassing this unique collection.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32The family wealth had been lost,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35and I think this was a great impetus to Willie
0:02:35 > 0:02:37because first of all,
0:02:37 > 0:02:41he wanted to regain the money which had been lost.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44And later on, he hoped to regain the status.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Whatever motivated the man,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53his collection ensured that his name will never be forgotten.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57There is nothing quite like this anywhere in the world.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12The Burrell Collection opened its doors in 1983 with great fanfare.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15The Queen turned the key,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18and for the first time a cornucopia of artefacts
0:03:18 > 0:03:21which had languished in crates in dusty store rooms
0:03:21 > 0:03:25was displayed for all to see in its purpose-built home,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29some of it built into the fabric of these very walls.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38I remember how excited I was when the Burrell opened.
0:03:38 > 0:03:39It was the first time I'd seen
0:03:39 > 0:03:42the wonders of the world in a modern setting.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44And each time I come,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48I'm rewarded when my eye catches something I've never noticed before.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03William Burrell has been described as the Millionaire Magpie,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05grabbing anything that glittered -
0:04:05 > 0:04:08a first-century Roman sculpture here,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11a seventh-century Chinese warrior there.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13But I don't think that's true.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Burrell developed great passions and then he pursued them.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20He spent his money carefully, very carefully,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23amassing this extraordinary collection,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25piece by hand-picked piece.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31A collection he hoped would raise the Burrell family
0:04:31 > 0:04:34to the highest echelons of society.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51William Burrell didn't have a very smart beginning at all
0:04:51 > 0:04:56because he was born in a three-room tenement in Glasgow,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and he was the third child to be born there,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01so it was fairly full of people,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04that was in 1861.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07His mother was a dressmaker
0:05:07 > 0:05:11and I'm pretty sure that she fitted all the children out
0:05:11 > 0:05:13with clothes made by herself.
0:05:13 > 0:05:19And they had to scrape to exist and he was brought up on this,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and he was made to scrape.
0:05:21 > 0:05:27And he really appreciated the value of thrift and he never ever forgot.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37At the end of the 19th century,
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Glasgow offered many ways to get rich for those prepared to take the risk.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47Burrell's grandfather started out shifting cargo on the city's canals.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51But the era of industrialisation soon opened up Glasgow
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to the greater riches of the Empire.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59In just two decades, the Burrell family went from moving barges
0:05:59 > 0:06:01to commissioning Clyde-built steamships
0:06:01 > 0:06:03for their world wide freight business.
0:06:05 > 0:06:11William left school aged just 14 to try his hand in the family firm.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17These were William Burrell's daily surroundings,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Burrell & Sons offices were here in George Square
0:06:20 > 0:06:22as it was being built
0:06:22 > 0:06:26in the prestigious heart of this booming industrial city.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29And a few streets away were the burgeoning commercial art gallery
0:06:29 > 0:06:34and auction houses where William Burrell headed at every opportunity.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45He started off, apparently, when he was 14
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and he did manage to bid for a picture successfully,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53and it was a portrait of a lady and he got it for a few shillings.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55And he was very pleased and brought it back.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58And his father, who I think was not that way inclined,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00said, "For goodness sake, William,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03"why don't you spend the money on a cricket bat?"
0:07:03 > 0:07:06And then he realised that he had no frame.
0:07:06 > 0:07:07And so he thought, "Well,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11"I haven't got a frame and I can't afford to get a frame,"
0:07:11 > 0:07:16and so he took it back and resold it and lost money on the transaction.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21'But his early mistakes as a teenage collector
0:07:21 > 0:07:24'didn't put Willie Burrell off.' It's a treasure trove.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28'We don't know quite where his passion for paintings came from,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32'but Glasgow in the 1880s wasn't a bad place to start.'
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Burrell was excited by a group of contemporary artists
0:07:38 > 0:07:40known as the Glasgow Boys
0:07:40 > 0:07:42whose work he could buy on his doorstep.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Burrell's favourite was Joseph Crawhall.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56One of the best things about this is you get the sense of speed,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58because the dachshund's ears are flying, the feet are going,...
0:07:58 > 0:08:01- Yes, she is not remotely steady on the bicycle.- No.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04She looks like she's wobbling and it's so delicate,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06just these little touches of colour.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11And again, in this one, you get the real sense of excitement
0:08:11 > 0:08:13and of the huge hindquarters of this racing horse,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and this splash which is the tail up.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17Yes.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28Burrell's passion for Crawhall's work would last a lifetime.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31But he was also starting to collect artists of international renown,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34like James McNeill Whistler.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42We have quite a number of lovely Whistler drawings and prints
0:08:42 > 0:08:47in the collection and this is one of two pastels that we have.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51And clearly, he loved works on paper,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53he loved pastels and he loved colour.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55I mean, would part of the reason
0:08:55 > 0:08:58that he did concentrate on pastels sometimes
0:08:58 > 0:09:01and works on paper is that they tend to be cheaper than the oils?
0:09:01 > 0:09:05- Well, there is that, too. - He was canny.- Yes, he was canny.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Um, because he's definitely buying things quite early on
0:09:08 > 0:09:11that are not expensive, he's not buying, on the whole,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14the larger oil paintings that are going to be more expensive.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18- But what about Whistler oils?- Well, Whistler's still relatively cheap.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22- He's buying early on, so...- Does he have any Whistler oils as well?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Yeah, yeah. So the value is not rocketing.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31William Burrell bought two impressive oil paintings
0:09:31 > 0:09:36by Whistler, spending £1500 on The Fur Jacket alone,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39but sold them both just a few years later.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46'Luckily for us, Burrell didn't sell all his Whistlers.'
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Oh, my goodness.
0:09:48 > 0:09:49It's one of Westminster.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51KIRSTY GASPS
0:09:54 > 0:09:57You can just make out the lights along the far bank.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02And the factory chimneys, but just...just and no more.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06And what I like about this is many artists at the time
0:10:06 > 0:10:10were doing narrative paintings, paintings that have a story,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13well, this is something that is invoking a mood,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and what I love is the fact that Burrell obviously cared about that.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22I can't believe this is down in the store.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24I can't believe this is down in the store!
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Yeah, we should have this one on display.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29It's a really wonderful nocturne.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31I'm very glad he didn't sell this.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Burrell was not only buying and selling paintings,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42he was also commissioning new works.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47He asked Glasgow Boy, John Lavery, to paint his youngest sister, Mary.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51This must be one of the most beautiful,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53elegant portraits in the collection.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55She's very elegant, isn't she?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00William Burrell preferred to stay out of the limelight,
0:11:00 > 0:11:06but he was happy to show off the families growing wealth
0:11:06 > 0:11:08with this arresting portrait.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13What this says to me is, this is my sister,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17I want Lavery to paint her, and I want to show her off to the world.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33William Burrell's world had changed immeasurably.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37By the 1890s, he was at the helm of the family business,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and business was booming.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Burrell & Sons ships were now carrying cargo
0:11:42 > 0:11:45to ever farther flung reaches of the globe.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49And as his company and his bank balance grew,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53so did Burrell's infatuation with buying art.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56Letters written by Burrell's best friend, Robert Lorimer,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59offer a rare eyewitness account of his activities.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05"He travels pretty well all over Europe two or three times a year,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07"visiting the regions.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13"He is 36, he possesses 17 Matthew Maris's, two Whistlers,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15"God knows what else.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19"Really he has very fine taste. God knows where he got it."
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Burrell headed to the continent
0:12:23 > 0:12:26to make his first purchases of European art,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28where the bargaining techniques he'd picked up
0:12:28 > 0:12:32in the cutthroat world of global shipping served him very well indeed.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35"That man's a perfect nailer.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39"To see him tackling some of these dealers was a treat
0:12:39 > 0:12:41"and in many ways I learned a lot from him."
0:12:44 > 0:12:47The generation that Burrell belonged to were a bit more daring
0:12:47 > 0:12:49in their purchases,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53and they were interested in buying modern, European art.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54And I think that's probably
0:12:54 > 0:12:58because they were perhaps more international in their outlook.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00And if you think about the businesses that they ran...
0:13:00 > 0:13:02- And they travelled.- They travelled.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And Burrell was sending ships off here, there and everywhere.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07And so they had a more international outlook.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15'Burrell was also buying top quality French
0:13:15 > 0:13:18'and Dutch art from a handful of dealers in Glasgow.'
0:13:18 > 0:13:20So the Burrell's got at least as many Degas
0:13:20 > 0:13:23- as any other collection in the United Kingdom?- Yes.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26'And through them, some of the best modern art
0:13:26 > 0:13:30'in the world found its way into William Burrell's hands.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33'The collector fell for the work of a living French artist
0:13:33 > 0:13:38'who was helping to change the face of Western art. Edgar Degas.'
0:13:39 > 0:13:44This is one of Degas' most important paintings.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48And it's certainly one of the best of his works that Burrell purchased.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52The man that we're seeing here, Duranty,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56was an art critic and novelist, and a close friend of Degas.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01And in 1876 Duranty wrote a pamphlet
0:14:01 > 0:14:04called The New Painting.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08And what he was saying was, when you're doing a portrait,
0:14:08 > 0:14:13show them in their own environment and tell us something about them.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15In other words, you can look at that portrait
0:14:15 > 0:14:19and you know without knowing what this man actually did -
0:14:19 > 0:14:24a writer, completely surrounded by his books and pamphlets.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25So this was the whole idea,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29- this idea of modernity showing real life in art.- Absolutely.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34And Burrell loved Degas, but one of the artists he also loved,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38from a modern point of view, was Manet.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43And this was exhibited in 1880 at an exhibition called La Vie Moderne.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01These voyeuristic snapshots of everyday life
0:15:01 > 0:15:03in Parisian streets and cafes,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06and behind-the-scenes at the ballet,
0:15:06 > 0:15:07were new and daring,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10far beyond the posed portraits that had come before.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17I absolutely love this, because instead of the male gaze,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19this is a woman with field glasses
0:15:19 > 0:15:22looking straight at Degas as he paints her.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24So she sees him in close-up.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27So why do you think he bought something like this?
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is extraordinary, so striking.
0:15:29 > 0:15:30Well, as far as we know,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33this is one of the very first works that he buys.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37We know he had this by 1902.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39It would seem to me that because he was buying it early,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42that without realising it, he was collecting something
0:15:42 > 0:15:46that was actually almost subversive and certainly quite provocative.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54By good judgement and luck,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58William Burrell amassed no fewer than 22 works by the artist,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02building up the largest and finest collection of Degas
0:16:02 > 0:16:04anywhere in the UK.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Why was Glasgow such a vibrant scene for art
0:16:18 > 0:16:20at the end of the 1800s?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Well, I think it's a combination of three things -
0:16:23 > 0:16:25first of all, there was a lot of money around,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and that's very important for artists
0:16:27 > 0:16:30because there were people to support them,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34the second thing is that there were these dealers,
0:16:34 > 0:16:38these art agents, who were able to act as an interface
0:16:38 > 0:16:40between the artist and the collector,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44and of course, the third thing is that there were these men
0:16:44 > 0:16:46who were very anxious to buy paintings.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02'Burrell's new-found wealth made him a leading player in this art market.'
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Was he, do you think, from an early age, a very astute businessman?
0:17:06 > 0:17:11Very. Absolutely ruthless in his ship owning.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16Because he used to wait until the shipyards were crying out for work
0:17:16 > 0:17:20and he'd order a whole lot of ships at once and get them very cheap.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22And then he used to sell when there was a boom.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And this is how he made money.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Between 1898 and 1900, just two years,
0:17:33 > 0:17:38as demand for ships peaked and prices rose, Burrell sold his entire fleet.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44His bold strategy reaped him huge financial rewards.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47By the turn-of-the-century,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Burrell's business acumen had amassed him his first fortune.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Now he could step back from shipping
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and concentrate on building his collection.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58And that moment coincided with one of the most fabulous events
0:17:58 > 0:18:00in Glasgow's cultural history -
0:18:00 > 0:18:05the 1901 International Exhibition here in Kelvingrove Park -
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and Burrell put himself at the heart of it.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18He had been collecting for more than 20 years,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22but Burrell had never put his impressive collection
0:18:22 > 0:18:23on public display.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Now the time was right as people flocked to the Glasgow Exhibition
0:18:28 > 0:18:32from all over the country to see the latest advances
0:18:32 > 0:18:34in industry and in art.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39And when he lent the exhibition more than 200 works,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Willie Burrell announced himself as an international collector of note.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46It's the first time
0:18:46 > 0:18:49you've got a real picture of the breadth of his collection.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53He has some Manets and also he has some Glasgow items.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55But the surprise is, with the mediaeval items.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59There were tapestries there. How he acquired them, nobody knows.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01So it's the breadth of the collection
0:19:01 > 0:19:03that's really interesting.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08- Burrell had an international ambition, didn't he?- Yes, he did.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And I think, really, the people he was looking at...
0:19:13 > 0:19:14..were the Americans.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17And they're the big collectors, you got the Rockefellers,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21you've got JP Morgan, and Frick,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23and then latterly of course, Randolph Hearst.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30In the middle of the 19th century, some of the richest men in America
0:19:30 > 0:19:34began spending unimaginable fortunes on art and antiquities.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Coke and steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick
0:19:37 > 0:19:40bought many of Europe's finest old masters.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44And later, newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47bought everything from Greek vases to Spanish furniture.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50They wanted to furnish their grand mansions
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and castles as a mark of their status.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57In a sense, Burrell belongs to that kind of...
0:19:59 > 0:20:01..what we rather unkindly call the robber barons,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04but those people who are really self-made people coming up
0:20:04 > 0:20:05and buying collections,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08forming their identity with these great collections.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11All these industrialists were also showing that they were cultured too.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15- It wasn't just about blood and guts and steel.- Oh, absolutely not.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18I think that's absolutely right.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21This was collecting of a high order.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32We don't know exactly where Burrell started collecting mediaeval art.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35He may have picked up his taste on family holidays to Holland
0:20:35 > 0:20:38and France, perhaps encouraged by his mother,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41who also fancied herself a collector.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46But over six decades, Burrell assembled one of the finest
0:20:46 > 0:20:49collections of Northern European, mediaeval, Gothic,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53and early Renaissance art ever amassed by one man.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Here.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00There's no space to do that
0:21:00 > 0:21:03otherwise I would go in the middle now.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07These 14th century stained-glass panels from a Carmelite monastery
0:21:07 > 0:21:10in Boppard on Rhine in Germany survived iconoclasm
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and the Napoleonic wars and are also
0:21:12 > 0:21:16some of the most beautiful glass Burrell collected.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20They have been up on display since the museum opened
0:21:20 > 0:21:24and now need to come down for conservation.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26There is always an unknown quantity to it.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Until you have done it, you never know.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31We always have a contingency plan.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33What is the worst that could happen?
0:21:33 > 0:21:35I suppose the worst that could happen would be
0:21:35 > 0:21:37that it slips and falls.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41OK, I have got hold of this. It is coming down.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44It will be really exciting to see them in the workshop
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and start exploring what went on with them
0:21:47 > 0:21:50before they went on display here at the Burrell.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58In a lifetime of collecting, William Burrell
0:21:58 > 0:22:01steadily put together one of the finest
0:22:01 > 0:22:06and most comprehensive collections of stained glass in the world.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13What were some of his best bargains?
0:22:13 > 0:22:17The Fawsley Hall glass, this wonderful series of heraldic panels,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19early 16th century,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23one family from an early 16th century house in Northamptonshire.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26He pursues them long and hard, from before the war
0:22:26 > 0:22:30until after the war, and gets them really quite cheaply.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33And things like the prophet Jeremiah, from St Denis,
0:22:33 > 0:22:34which he paid £114 for.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40It is from the first Gothic church, built by Abbot Suger,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43this great figure in 12th century French society.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45And it is one of the windows there.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48And of course, at the time, nobody knew it came from there.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50So that was an amazing bargain.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52You can point to the collection and find all sorts of things
0:22:52 > 0:22:54he actually bought really rather well.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00William Burrell taught himself about every aspect of his collection.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03And as his knowledge and his contacts book grew,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06he was able to buy better and better.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11He started with a very curious mind as a child,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13and he never stopped.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15He was always asking dealers,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and finding out about different things, and he was really interested
0:23:18 > 0:23:23in their provenance, and where they come from, what they meant.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32Burrell sought out a handful
0:23:32 > 0:23:35of exceptional objects with royal connections.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40One piece on display bore witness to a fateful night in English history.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48When I first came to the Burrell Collection it was down in the store.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52I found it and I looked at it and I thought, "What is this?!"
0:23:52 > 0:23:57And it turns out to be the matrimonial bedhead that was
0:23:57 > 0:24:01made for the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04- So they would have slept in this on their wedding night?- Yes.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08It is political and also slightly erotic.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13- So it is a rare combination, shall we say...- Interesting combination.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17So in the centre we have got an inscription that actually
0:24:17 > 0:24:21states exactly who Henry is.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24King of England, and of France, Lord of Ireland,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28and the Chief and Supreme Head of the Church of All England.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32- So that is the political bit. - That is the political bit.
0:24:32 > 0:24:33What is the erotic bit?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Well, the carving, we have got a grown-up woman on this side
0:24:36 > 0:24:39and the man on your side.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41A very prominent codpiece.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46A very prominent codpiece. Which was fashionable at the time.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49He is holding a large fruit,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52emphasising the fruitfulness of the union.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57And on this side, we have got a very fashionably dressed lady.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00In one hand, the serpent, or the snake, and then the other,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03her right hand, she is holding an upturned sword.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08So as I usually say to the guides here, interpret as desired!
0:25:08 > 0:25:11- So that of course is the idea... - The idea of virility.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And this is not of course a rendition of Anne of Cleves,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16she was a rather not very attractive person.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Well, some of the stories are that they played cards all night.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22We don't know if that is true. We will never know.
0:25:22 > 0:25:23Only the bedhead knows.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25And I find that really exciting,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28that this bedhead was actually there on that night.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35With objects like the king's bedhead,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Burrell bought his own piece of royal history.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41But he was just as interested in precious things
0:25:41 > 0:25:42used by ordinary people.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49These carvings are some of the few remaining examples
0:25:49 > 0:25:51of a lost mediaeval craft form,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55that had miraculously survived the Reformation.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Religious sculptures like these
0:26:04 > 0:26:08serve to remind illiterate churchgoers of the Bible stories,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11and were carved from English alabaster in the 14th century.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Burrell also got his hands on some even rarer alabasters
0:26:18 > 0:26:20designed as prayer objects for the home.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26There are others, and other museums, but this is something that
0:26:26 > 0:26:31- most museums in the world would give anything for.- Yes.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36This is the head of St John the Baptist, after he was beheaded,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38being carried on a platter.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42At the top, we have got the soul being carried to heaven by angels.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49Below, the resurrecting Christ, coming out of the tomb.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53So it is a very Catholic image and, after the Reformation,
0:26:53 > 0:26:54it would be very dangerous indeed
0:26:54 > 0:26:58to be found with something like this in your home.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Burrell collected a royal flush of mediaeval artefacts.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07From precious glass, to sculpture and textiles,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09and intricately woven tapestries,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12which had always conferred status in society.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Perhaps that was why Burrell liked these best of all.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Yes, he actually says in some of his correspondence
0:27:21 > 0:27:22that he thinks tapestries
0:27:22 > 0:27:27are possibly the most important part of his collection, in his own view.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32This is an allegory, charity overcoming envy.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36So, charity being a virtue is attacking envy,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39who is one of the vices.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42- Obviously managing very well. - She is, managing very well.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47She is holding a sword and she is just about to strike him down.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55This tapestry is about 500 years old and was made in the area
0:27:55 > 0:27:58nowadays called the southern Netherlands.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02One of the most important tapestry weaving centres
0:28:02 > 0:28:04of the known world at that time.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Burrell collected more than 200 important tapestries.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Ranging from the allegorical to the heraldic.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23And the playful.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30I really don't know where to begin with this tapestry.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35There is just so much to see and it just looks so glorious.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Yes, and it is actually one of our favourites.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Especially for school parties that come in,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42they absolutely love this tapestry.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45This is called "Preparing To Hunt Rabbits With Ferrets".
0:28:45 > 0:28:48Is it meant to be fun? Are you meant to be looking for things?
0:28:48 > 0:28:50Because I am seeing things all the time
0:28:50 > 0:28:53that I perhaps didn't see two or three minutes ago.
0:28:53 > 0:28:54I think it is meant to be fun.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57It is actually one of three tapestries
0:28:57 > 0:28:59from the same kind of series.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04The other two are in San Francisco and the Louvre in Paris.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08Although it looks quite simple, to tapestry connoisseurs
0:29:08 > 0:29:12this is actually the height of tapestry design.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14And that is because the figures are actually jigsawed together
0:29:14 > 0:29:16to fill the whole space.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20I am sure that sitting her there are lots of things I haven't seen yet.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24As well as rabbit holes you have this strange looking bear.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29Yes, he had a good eye for tapestries. He knew what he wanted.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32As I say, to connoisseurs it is very special.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39What do you think sparks Burrell's love of mediaeval art?
0:29:41 > 0:29:43It is certainly not for the religious input.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46I think the tapestries by and large show that.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51But again it is really sort of Gothic that he is really keen on.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56And probably the reason is that he likes the kind of objects,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59initially anyway, which would furnish
0:29:59 > 0:30:01the kind of house he wants to be in.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06It may be partly an aspiration to kind of have a baronial style,
0:30:06 > 0:30:11which you see from this sort of genuine, old houses.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13That is what I think he likes.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16And I think initially it is a furnishing thing.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24Burrell was eager to settle down.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27He found a suitable wife in Constance Mitchell
0:30:27 > 0:30:30who was also from a Glasgow shipping family.
0:30:30 > 0:30:36And the newlyweds moved into a smart townhouse in Glasgow's West End.
0:30:36 > 0:30:37He called on his friend
0:30:37 > 0:30:42and architect Robert Lorimer to refashion the interiors.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45'I have at last gotten to enthuse a bit over his house.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49'Seeing his Gothic tapestries hung up in his dining room
0:30:49 > 0:30:50'is what did it.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53'His dining room is now to be tapestry all-around.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56'The three Gothic hunting scenes he had in the Glasgow exhibition
0:30:56 > 0:30:57'just fill one side.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00'And he is going to have a trip round the continent in the spring
0:31:00 > 0:31:02'to try to find some more.'
0:31:02 > 0:31:06Soon the house was ready and a baby was on the way.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10William had grand family plans.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14He wanted to father a dynasty of Burrells.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17And the first thing he did, he was delighted, he rushed out,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21and he got Lorimer to make him a beautiful cradle for the baby.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23I do not know how much Constance had to do with it,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26but they went absolutely overboard.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28And the child duly arrived.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31But in those days all births of course took place in the home
0:31:31 > 0:31:36and it turned out that that was a very difficult birth and it was
0:31:36 > 0:31:39not the son and heir that they were hoping for, it was a daughter.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46The Burrells named their daughter Marion.
0:31:46 > 0:31:52But Constance was warned that having another baby would endanger her life.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56William was forced to give up the idea of fathering a dynasty.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59And with his ambitions for a male heir thwarted,
0:31:59 > 0:32:04he threw himself wholeheartedly into his obsession for collecting.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Astonishingly, for the first 50 years of his life,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Burrell kept no records of his purchases.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21But as the collection grew,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23he realised he needed to keep track of it.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30From 1911 until he died almost 50 years later, he hand-wrote
0:32:30 > 0:32:34a record of almost every object he bought in one of these 28 notebooks.
0:32:37 > 0:32:42- And this is what, just a jotter? - Just a school exercise book.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46- That is what he used.- All in order, all in order.- That's right.
0:32:46 > 0:32:481911 to 1914.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Yes, it gives you the date bought,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54from whom he has bought it, a description.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58- It is the meticulous work of a businessman.- Very much so.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02If you look at another page, we have got sketches of the things he saw.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06So this is Burrell actually drawing his purchases? Himself!
0:33:06 > 0:33:12Yes, of course, 1911, catalogues did not have photographs,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15so there is nothing to remind you, you have to do sketches,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18have something that reminds you of what you are looking at.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20And of course he buys this piece
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and it is a pretty good drawing, actually.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26So beautifully done, as if he is doing some kind of lecture,
0:33:26 > 0:33:28writing up a lecture.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29That's right.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31I think that's amazing, that he does that.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34He may be amassing a collection,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36but he does not have lots of assistants and staff.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40- He is doing it himself.- That is right. A very personal thing.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43And that is the nice thing about Burrell.
0:33:43 > 0:33:49Many collectors as rich as he was would buy mountains of stuff,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52- probably not even seeing what they were buying.- He saw everything.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55- He saw everything. - And it is completely the opposite
0:33:55 > 0:33:57of what the mythology is about Burrell,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59that he was this magpie who bought everything,
0:33:59 > 0:34:00that it was indiscriminate.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03- Burrell's passion is here in his pencil.- Yes.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Burrell's latest passion was for ancient Chinese artefacts.
0:34:12 > 0:34:161911 was the year he started his purchase books,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19but also a key date in Chinese history.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24When the imperial dynasty fell, China started to fragment,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27and the noble families sold off their collections,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30allowing Western collectors to acquire Chinese art.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39I think this case probably has some of the best ceramics
0:34:39 > 0:34:42in the Burrell collection.
0:34:42 > 0:34:4414th century.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49- Translucent, it is beautiful. - Absolutely. 14th century porcelain.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Underglazed copper oxide. Very experimental.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56It is a very difficult oxide to fire correctly.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Burrell was collecting this, was he, for the sheer beauty of it?
0:34:59 > 0:35:04Or because he knew it was valuable? What was the impetus?
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Again we have to pick up the clues.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10He had a very sort of personal connection with his objects.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15Everything he bought, he looked at, he chose, and he had a very good eye.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19The quality of its manufacture. He was interested in how things were made.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23- How things are... yes. - And the quality of craftsmanship and it's perfect condition.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25- And it's perfect.- Perfect condition.
0:35:33 > 0:35:39This is a fantastic example of an eighth-century burial figure
0:35:39 > 0:35:43and objects like this were made specifically as tomb artefacts.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46They were there to serve the dead, not the living.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50So I think what amazed Western collectors was the fact that
0:35:50 > 0:35:54you had so much detail and so much vitality within what were really
0:35:54 > 0:35:57things that would never be seen once they were buried.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03And in terms of Chinese collectors, these would have been taboo.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08So when these were discovered in the 1910s, '20s and '30s,
0:36:08 > 0:36:12from excavated tombs, they were of fascination to Western collectors,
0:36:12 > 0:36:17I think primarily because they hadn't seen anything like this before.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21But obviously it very much followed the Western sculptural tradition.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39Burrell collected more than 1,200 ceramics, bronzes and jades.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44With the Chinese collection spanning each and every dynasty,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47he built up a true connoisseur's set.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51But there was something deeper
0:36:51 > 0:36:55motivating Burrell's compulsive yet careful collecting.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Before William made his money as a ship owner,
0:37:10 > 0:37:14commissioning and selling ships built here on the River Clyde,
0:37:14 > 0:37:20and even before William's grandfather came to Scotland to try his luck on the waterways,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22the Burrells were landed gentry
0:37:22 > 0:37:25who kept royal company in their native Northumberland
0:37:25 > 0:37:29until the family money was recklessly gambled away.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Willie Burrell loved stories
0:37:33 > 0:37:36and the family were brought up on this tale
0:37:36 > 0:37:38of how the family wealth had been lost
0:37:38 > 0:37:43and I think this was a great impetus to Willie because first of all he wanted to...
0:37:43 > 0:37:47regain the money which had been lost.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50And later on, he hoped to regain the status.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12Willie Burrell was determined to make the family name great once again.
0:38:16 > 0:38:17He was a romantic.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21We had a hard side and a soft side and he had a very romantic side.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27He loved the stories of Walter Scott and history and pageantry and heraldry.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33And he wanted a setting fitting for the things that he particularly enjoyed.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18This extraordinary place is Hutton Castle.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20William Burrell wanted the perfect home in which to put
0:39:20 > 0:39:23his treasured hoard. This is it.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27He spent 12 years redesigning it within an inch of its life
0:39:27 > 0:39:31and finally, in 1927, he moved in with his wife Constance
0:39:31 > 0:39:33and his daughter Marion.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36It was to be his home for the next 30 years.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50John Pringle worked in Burrell's garden.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55The first time I came here was with the school.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58When I was about 12 I used to come gardening
0:39:58 > 0:40:01from half seven to 12 o'clock.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03- On a Saturday?- On a Saturday.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05And did Sir William pay you for that?
0:40:05 > 0:40:09Sixpence an hour. We got half a crown each.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14- And did you see Sir William at that time or not?- At half nine he came out.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18He stayed with us till dinner time, sitting on his shooting stick.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21You saw how many of the different antiques he was putting in here.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26- What was it like? - Absolutely full of carpets.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29All you could smell was mothballs. But he had everything.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34He had weapons, furniture... I liked the suits of armour.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37They were really great. There was one each side of the door.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41- I always remember that.- They didn't live in that bit, though, did they?
0:40:41 > 0:40:45No, no, they'd be more up here. This was chock-full of antiques.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50- Right.- It just looked like a museum. Absolutely beautiful.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Statues, some furniture but he had everything.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Burrell had great expectations of his castle.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05And of his only daughter, Marion.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08He had her educated by French governesses
0:41:08 > 0:41:11and enjoyed schooling her in the collection.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13William and Connie took Marion on holidays
0:41:13 > 0:41:16and buying trips to exotic locations.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21Her father was very ambitious and autocratic.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22When she was very young,
0:41:22 > 0:41:24he saw her potential
0:41:24 > 0:41:28and decided that he would mould her
0:41:28 > 0:41:29in his own way.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Burrell wanted Marion to marry into the aristocracy
0:41:35 > 0:41:39and when she came of age, he spent a fortune on presenting her
0:41:39 > 0:41:44to the pick of the country's most eligible titled bachelors.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46But the millionaire collector was suspicious
0:41:46 > 0:41:49the suitors were after his money
0:41:49 > 0:41:54and no one was good enough for Burrell's daughter.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57She didn't know that her third engagement had been broken
0:41:57 > 0:42:00until she read it in her morning paper.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02Her father had put in a notice
0:42:02 > 0:42:07without a word either to her or to her future husband.
0:42:07 > 0:42:13And so she was absolutely blazing. She said, "Right, that's it.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17"I will never marry." And she jolly well meant it.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24William's grand plans for Marion had failed.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28And her relationship with her parents never fully recovered.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31Connie, it seems,
0:42:31 > 0:42:35couldn't forgive her daughter for the traumatic birth she had endured
0:42:35 > 0:42:40but without a husband or a decent allowance, Marion was bound to her parents.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46Did you ever hear her speaking ill of her parents, though?
0:42:47 > 0:42:50She once said to me in the boiler house...
0:42:52 > 0:42:57she was nearly in tears, you know. "Mum has never loved me."
0:42:57 > 0:42:59I always remember that.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03That's one of the last times I spoke to her at Hutton Castle.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Today, Hutton Castle is in private hands and is not open to the public.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16But little remains here of the interiors Burrell went to
0:43:16 > 0:43:20so much trouble and expense to create.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24After his death, the castle was stripped of its fixtures and fittings.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27But we can get a glimpse of how he lived from the three rooms
0:43:27 > 0:43:32that have been painstakingly recreated at the Burrell Collection.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35So are these the proportions of the room as it was in Hutton?
0:43:35 > 0:43:39- Yes, they're as near as they could possibly be.- Height as well?
0:43:39 > 0:43:42Yes, everything. Originally, he'd actually said that
0:43:42 > 0:43:46he would have liked up to 12 of the rooms from Hutton Castle to be
0:43:46 > 0:43:49produced in the museum, which would have included bedrooms as well.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52So this would be incredibly fashionable
0:43:52 > 0:43:58- for a kind of magnate to have a place like this with the room like this. - Yes.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03I mean, William Randolph Hearst, his homes were like this but larger.
0:44:03 > 0:44:09- And the stained glass, presumably she had saved that stained glass up for Hutton.- Yes.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13Unfortunately, there was too much to have on display in Hutton,
0:44:13 > 0:44:14even though Hutton was huge.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17I suppose it enlivens the room, you know.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21They were literally showrooms. They were kept locked most of the time.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25They were where he put the stars of his collection
0:44:25 > 0:44:29and important visitors would be brought in and shown around.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32But I don't think that the family would have come in
0:44:32 > 0:44:34and sat around the fire.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36No. Or skited along the table.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Owning Hutton Castle gave Burrell the chance
0:44:44 > 0:44:46to buy on a far grander scale than before.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Even in the museum, some objects are so big and delicate
0:44:52 > 0:44:54that they can't be kept on permanent display.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58So it's a real treat for me to get a rare viewing
0:44:58 > 0:45:01of an item that really is a one-off.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06It looks so unprepossessing. It's a bit of gingham at the moment.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10- I feel there is something... - You will not be disappointed!
0:45:10 > 0:45:15- It is a beautiful thing to see. - Nothing else like it in here?
0:45:15 > 0:45:17No, not only in here, anywhere.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20The pattern of this carpet was never repeated.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22It is an absolutely unique object.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24Can you line it up against...
0:45:30 > 0:45:34There are water channels being unravelled.
0:45:34 > 0:45:39Fish and duck. In the water channels.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41Lots of trees and flowers.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54- There we are. Look at that.- Gosh!
0:45:58 > 0:46:00So what are we actually seeing here?
0:46:00 > 0:46:03This is the famous Wagner Garden Carpet.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07It's a Persian carpet laid out as a walled garden.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14The carpet makers and designers are trying to create a garden
0:46:14 > 0:46:17that represents the earthly paradise
0:46:17 > 0:46:21that is a mirror of the heavenly one.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23It is obviously a thing of infinite beauty.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27- Isn't it? Do you want to get closer? - How close can I get, though?
0:46:27 > 0:46:31- If you take your shoes off you can go right up to the edge.- OK.
0:46:31 > 0:46:38- So are we allowed to walk on the edge?- No, just on the tarpaulin.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42But you can lean over if you like, it's an amazing object.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50What are the main symbols that you would be
0:46:50 > 0:46:53looking for in a carpet like this. What does it tell you?
0:46:53 > 0:46:58If you sit just a metre in, you get this amazing panoramic feel
0:46:58 > 0:47:01that you are in a garden, as opposed to on a garden.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04All the trees in the outer...
0:47:04 > 0:47:07- Follow a line.- Follow a line.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10As you get to the centre of the carpet,
0:47:10 > 0:47:13the trees start to change direction.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16- Look at these birds, they are beautiful.- Storks.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19We've got ducks up there flying.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25And you can see there are lots of little tiny repairs.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30It is very rare to come across an early 17th century that has no
0:47:30 > 0:47:33repairs at all. That means it was never used.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37There is a lot of quirky humour in it,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41in the way they have depicted the animals and their relationships.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44- There is a lot of fun.- I think my favourite is the little rabbits.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46The rabbits, yes.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Burrell gave this beautiful piece pride of place in the drawing room
0:47:54 > 0:47:56of Hutton Castle.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It is just one of over 400 Persian
0:47:59 > 0:48:02and Islamic artefacts that he amassed.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Well, of course, in addition to the carpets, the other Islamic textiles
0:48:15 > 0:48:18that Burrell lived with are these suzanis.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20They are wall-hangings.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24Burrell used them as bedspreads.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26- What, at Hutton Castle?- Yes.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28It is extraordinary because at the moment,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32suzanis are incredibly popular. Designers use them all the time.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34But they are factory made. But this is a different thing.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36Very different.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38These are made by women at home.
0:48:38 > 0:48:43The traditions starts in the mid-18th century of producing suzanis
0:48:43 > 0:48:48as dowry pieces. So it is loaded with symbolism and beauty.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53So that she shows off in her new marital home how important she was
0:48:53 > 0:48:55and loved by her family.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01The tulip is very important in Turkish life.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04The tulip represents God.
0:49:04 > 0:49:05At the very top roundel,
0:49:05 > 0:49:10can you see the serrated leaves that project out from the centre?
0:49:10 > 0:49:15These represent kitchen knives disguised here!
0:49:15 > 0:49:20Kitchen knives are very useful as a domestic tool and for protection.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25So you can see the beliefs being loaded onto this beautiful suzani.
0:49:25 > 0:49:31And of course, they invested a lifetime's effort in producing them.
0:49:31 > 0:49:36This is one of the ones that was bought in London in May 1925.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39And this was all because he wanted to cover the beds at Hutton Castle?
0:49:39 > 0:49:41He understood them to be a bedspread.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45So I think he would be even more pleased to discover the whole story
0:49:45 > 0:49:48behind them. They are actually wall hangings,
0:49:48 > 0:49:55to decorate the interior walls of the bride's room in her new marital home.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Burrell was king of his castle, surrounded by his treasures.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Soon the castle was full,
0:50:13 > 0:50:16packed to the gunwales with stained glass, carpets and furniture.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21But Sir William kept on going. Perhaps by now he was obsessed.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25A grand old man who still loved the thrill of the chase.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33But as he entered his 70s, Burrell began to worry about what
0:50:33 > 0:50:37would happen to his lifetime's work after his death.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42Alive, Burrell was curator of his own collection,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46but without him, who would save his precious hoard from being disbursed?
0:50:47 > 0:50:50His relationship with his only child was in tatters.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54To his mind, Burrell effectively had no heir.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59He realised the only way to keep the collection together
0:50:59 > 0:51:04and secure his lasting reputation was to gift it to the public.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08Eventually, he decided to give the entire collection to Glasgow,
0:51:08 > 0:51:10the city that made his fortune.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17And now Burrell's collection was bound for public display, he started
0:51:17 > 0:51:21to buy spectacular objects that would impress visitors to a museum.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26Perhaps one of the most famous items in the Burrell collection...
0:51:26 > 0:51:29- Certainly one of the most popular, apparently.- Absolutely.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32He is sitting out, he is highly glazed, is that why
0:51:32 > 0:51:35he can sit out and there's not a worry if somebody touches him?
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Absolutely, but of course you should never touch items.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41Ceramics are very robust.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44The only problem is when you drop them.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47But otherwise, they'll put up with temperature changes,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50they'll put up with sunlight and they will put up with people
0:51:50 > 0:51:55- touching them because that glaze is very robust.- When does he buy this?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Burrell buys this in December 1943.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03It is really on the cusp of his gifting the collection to the
0:52:03 > 0:52:06- city of Glasgow.- This is the signal that he is no longer domestic?
0:52:06 > 0:52:12That is right. He's moving from being a private collector to collecting for a museum.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15We are looking at larger scale objects,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19things that will now form part of a national collection.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24So how many pieces in all, are in Burrell's china...?
0:52:26 > 0:52:30Now Burrell had even grander plans for his collection.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33He wanted to tell the full story of civilisation
0:52:33 > 0:52:36and so in the last ten years of his life, he tried to fill
0:52:36 > 0:52:40in the gaps with works from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.
0:52:42 > 0:52:48But as well as being a completist Burrell was also an opportunist.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52When more extravagant collectors such as William Randolph Hearst
0:52:52 > 0:52:55were forced to sell off large portions of their hoards
0:52:55 > 0:52:58in the Depression in the 1930s, the more cautious Burrell
0:52:58 > 0:52:59was ready to buy.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04What I love about the Burrell is you have these series of lovely,
0:53:04 > 0:53:10- welcoming doors.- Absolutely. - Each one, different.
0:53:10 > 0:53:16This one is just amazing. It still seems to me jaw dropping.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21Well, they are not just threshold points, are they?
0:53:21 > 0:53:23They are sort of entrance and egress points.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Here, this is a classic example of an English 16th century castle
0:53:27 > 0:53:29entrance which was meant to impress.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33- It comes from Hornby Castle in Yorkshire.- Where did he get it?
0:53:33 > 0:53:35He got it from Randolph Hearst's collection.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37It was part of a job lot of stonework,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41incorporating some great Xanadu, one of the great Hearstian buildings.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44But of course, Hearst's empire collapsed so it all
0:53:44 > 0:53:48came on the market and Burrell bought the whole collection for £600.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52He bought this one on its own for £150,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54a fraction of what Hearst must have paid for it.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57An absolute fraction.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01And Burrell eventually wanted this to be incorporated in whatever
0:54:01 > 0:54:04- building housed the Burrell? - Absolutely, absolutely.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07It is a kind of triumphant frontispiece to the collection.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10A combination of object, landscape, architecture. It is perfect.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26The architectural stonework Burrell snapped up from Hearst's sale,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30now forms one of the most arresting features of the collection.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34He had the foresight to buy for the very fabric of a building
0:54:34 > 0:54:36he would never see.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43And Burrell kept on buying until the very end.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48This is a very poignant document
0:54:48 > 0:54:51because this is the last of Burrell's purchase books.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55It is from 1955 to 1957.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Gosh, you can see his annotations of his sums of money.
0:54:59 > 0:55:05- His running totals, yes. - Still. In 1955 he was 95?- Yes.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09- It still reads like a ledger book. - Greco-Egyptian statuette.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13- Gosh, he is buying a lot of Egyptian stuff.- He is.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15He is filling out the collection at this stage.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20Henry VIII oak games table from Sotheby's, via Partridge and Sons.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22That reads like a catalogue entry.
0:55:22 > 0:55:26I think he was quite keen to get the accurate descriptions in.
0:55:26 > 0:55:32Look at this. Gosh, this are his final entries.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38- You can see the writing has all changed.- Yes, yes.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42This is the end of a life of collecting.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48But the mind is as sharp as ever to the end.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53There is an interesting comment said by Murray Adams-Acton,
0:55:53 > 0:55:56one of his agents, who wrote this letter saying,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59"I have heard he has stopped collecting.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02"Well, if so, he hasn't done too badly."
0:56:02 > 0:56:04And I think that is a pretty good epitaph.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08- Burrell would have liked that. - I think he would have done.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15William Burrell died at Hutton Castle in 1958.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20He had lived for almost 100 years and amassed a huge
0:56:20 > 0:56:22and extraordinary collection,
0:56:22 > 0:56:27without inherited money or the vast fortune of a Hearst or a Frick.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Burrell left it all to the people of Glasgow.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45But the stipulations he imposed meant the collection did not
0:56:45 > 0:56:47find a home of its own for decades.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53It wasn't until 1983 that the Burrell Collection finally
0:56:53 > 0:56:56opened its Tudor castle doors to the public.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Because it is the collection of one man.
0:57:03 > 0:57:09And I just love being able to see him reflected in the tapestries,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12in the stained glass, the little jokey things that he liked.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15The Madonnas and church things that he liked.
0:57:15 > 0:57:20The human aspect of people working and people living
0:57:20 > 0:57:22and this is what he cared about.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24That's what I love about the collection.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Collecting was William Burrell's abiding passion
0:57:41 > 0:57:43and the world was his oyster.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45Like the American magnates such as Frick,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48he saw his route to greatness being through art.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51He did not want to be defined as a man who made his fortune by buying
0:57:51 > 0:57:55and selling cargo ships, but rather as a man of culture and learning.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59He may seem elusive because he never wrote about his artefacts.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02Except he did, in his purchase books. And he is here.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04This is his monument.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07The collection was his gift to us
0:58:07 > 0:58:09and there will never be another one like it.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd