Originally built in the 1870s at the back of a grand central London townhouse, the popular exhibition space called the Wallace Collection’s Great Gallery has reopened after a £5m (US$8.2m, €6.4m) refurbishment. This space has been closed for two years.

Home to some of the most famous 17th century European paintings in the country, by artists such as Rubens, Velazquez and Titian, the renovation was paid for by the Monument Trust – a charity set up by the Sainsbury family, also the founders of the UK’s second largest supermarket chain.

The restoration involved raising the ceiling to allow in natural light that will be carefully controlled by a high-tech lighting system to ensure a safe environment for the artworks.

The parquet flooring and wall covering have been replaced and the gilded coving and other decorative features have been refreshed.

Paintings on display on the new crimson silk-covered walls include Frans Hals’ “The Laughing Cavalier”, Velazquez’s “Lady with a Fan”, Poussin’s “A Dance to the Music of Time”, Rubens’ “The Rainbow Landscape” and Titian’s “Perseus and Andromeda”.

The gallery was built by Sir Richard Wallace at the back of Hertford House in the 1870s to accommodate the collection. Wallace was the illegitimate son of the Fourth Marquess of Hertford. He inherited the collection after his father’s death.