The Bute Collection is one of the foremost collections of fine and decorative arts, books and archival material in Britain, particularly noted for its Dutch Golden Age masterpieces and British 18th-century portraiture. Assembled over three centuries by several generations of the Crichton-Stuart family, the Earls and Marquesses of Bute, parts of the collection can be seen today at the neo-gothic ancestral family seat of Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute - an architectural masterpiece in its own right. This splendidly illustrated book provides an excellent introduction to the paintings that form just one element of this outstanding collection, including some of the finest pictures in the nation, and is the first in a series planned to celebrate each aspect of Mount Stuart's rich cultural heritage.