Category Archives: Biography

In Chancery

Posted on 20/02/2017 by carolinemmurray

Bleak House is my favourite Dickens novel. I don’t propose to defend the assertion now, but I mention it because recent rummagings in the library in which I spend my Friday mornings have brought to light a rather sad tale … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, London, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Last Medici

Posted on 07/02/2017 by carolinemmurray

A few days ago I attended a lecture by Professor Tim Blanning on the subject of the European context of Viscount Fitzwilliam’s stupendous bequest to the University of Cambridge in 1816. Bearing in mind Fitzwilliam’s continental travels and his long … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Professor Martyn Writes to Dr Pulteney

Posted on 30/01/2017 by carolinemmurray

One of my current voluntary activities consists in part of thumbing through an elderly card index, which reposes in an elderly and beautiful wooden card index case. In the course of this rummaging, I have noticed with alarm the increasing … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Westminster Bridge

Posted on 22/01/2017 by carolinemmurray

I tend to ignore the porcelain gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, since, as I have mentioned before, I really don’t like the coy, arch, simpering, figurative pieces that populate so many of the shelves. A quick genuflect towards the bookcase … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Dr Ducarel Writes to Dr Watson

Posted on 01/01/2017 by carolinemmurray

Whether history has been kind to Andrew Coltée Ducarel (1713–85) rather depends on which source you use. Francis Grose and Horace Walpole seem both to have loathed him (but didn’t the latter loathe almost everyone?). Others, including John Nichols, have … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, London, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The Extraordinary Lusignans

Posted on 20/11/2016 by carolinemmurray

I haven’t read or watched Game of Thrones, but, from what I gather, the story of how the obscure Lusignan family, minor nobility from Poitou in France, ended up as kings of Jerusalem, Armenia and Cyprus would fit in quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Venice | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Messing About In Boats

Posted on 17/11/2016 by carolinemmurray

The origins of the Regata Storica in Venice are unclear. One version is that it commemorates the occasion on which twelve poor but honest and beautiful girls, who had been given dowries by the state and were about to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Plantin and Moretus

Posted on 30/10/2016 by carolinemmurray

Not quite a Proustian moment, as no madeleines were dunked in lime-flower tea, but the other day a friend with unexpected time on his hands in Belgium enquired of the world via Twitter what was interesting in Antwerp. Immediately, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Bibliography, Biography, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The King’s Faithful Servant

Posted on 16/09/2016 by carolinemmurray

Rustat Road in Cambridge is where, in a former century, one used to go and pay one’s water rates to the Cambridge Water Company. I haven’t been able to find a picture of the building online, but I have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Cambridge, History, London, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Object of the Month: August

Posted on 22/08/2016 by carolinemmurray

The apotheosis of Nelson was already well under way in 1836, when one George Gunning, of Frindsbury in Kent, presented a snuffbox to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Books, prints, portraits, medals and ceramics preserved the great naval hero in the public … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments