Category Archives: Cambridge

Object of the Month: March 2017

Posted on 12/03/2017 by carolinemmurray

Would you give a home to one of these things (assuming always that you had the space)? I used to think that I wouldn’t – overblown, grotesque, quite unsuited (except in the most utilitarian terms, i.e. they have holes and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Carel Fabritius, Delft pottery, Fitzwilliam Museum, Hampton Court Palace, Mary II, Mauritshuis, William III | 3 Comments

Plant of the Month: February 2017

Posted on 17/02/2017 by carolinemmurray

I was thinking in terms of primroses, as mine (in a very sheltered position under a south-facing wall) are flowering bravely, but I haven’t seen any elsewhere yet, so I though I would go for winter aconites, which flower reliably … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged aconite, Aconitum, Eranthis, poisonous plants, spring flowers | 1 Comment

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 Cory Library, CU Botanic Garden, John Martyn, Richard Pulteney, Thomas Martyn | 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 'Architect Earl', 9th earl of Pembroke, Canaletto, Fitzwilliam Museum, Westminster Bridge | 2 Comments

Object of the Month: January 2017

Posted on 14/01/2017 by carolinemmurray

If ever I were to take up collecting as a serious pastime (as distinct from the random acquisition of books, plants and balls of wool), I think I would go for Italian maiolica pharmacy jars. (The sine qua non, of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Botany, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Venice | Tagged ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, Florence, maiolica, Metropolitan Museum of Art, pharmacy jars, Venice | 14 Comments

Plant of the Month: January 2017

Posted on 09/01/2017 by carolinemmurray

My mahonia is looking pretty cheerful at the moment: as good a reason as any to find out a bit more about it – including, I hope, the reason for its flowering in the coldest months of the year, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Bernard McMahon, botany, horticulture, mahonia, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nuttall | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month: December

Posted on 17/12/2016 by carolinemmurray

For the avoidance of doubt (as we lawyers like to say), I’m talking here about European mistletoe: Viscum album (Linnaeus). There are about 70–100 species worldwide, as well as New World and southern hemisphere ‘mistletoes’ of quite different species, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Literature, Natural history | Tagged 'The Mistletoe Bough', Christmas, gardens, mistletoe, myths and legends, Victorian Web | 2 Comments

Object Of The Month: November

Posted on 24/11/2016 by carolinemmurray

In the Western Christian churches, Advent is the period of four weeks (or so) before Christmas Day, beginning on the Sunday closest to the feast of St Andrew on 30 November. This year it falls on 27 November, and may … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Music, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged Advent, Advent calendars, Christmas, Fitzwilliam Museum | 3 Comments

Plant of the Month: November 2016

Posted on 13/11/2016 by carolinemmurray

I was parking my car outside a friend’s house in leafy western Cambridge when something squidged from above on to the bonnet and disintegrated most messily. I opened the car door and was assailed by a most appalling smell of … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, London, Natural history | Tagged Engelbert Kaempfer, fossil trees, Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo tree, Joseph Banks, Kew Gardens | 18 Comments

Bambini

Posted on 13/10/2016 by carolinemmurray

Anyone who spends any time mooching around art galleries cannot fail to be struck by the quite remarkable ugliness of many infant Jesuses. I’m not talking about the extreme stylisation – derived from the Byzantine tradition – of Virgin and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged bambini, Fitzwilliam Museum, National Gallery, Padua, religious paintings, Virgin and Child | 10 Comments