Category Archives: Cambridge

Plant of the Month: June

Posted on 18/06/2016 by carolinemmurray

The obvious plant would be the rose (which seems to be having a wonderful year in general, though I’m cheerfully expecting my ‘Félicité Perpétue’ flowers to turn into blue, mildewed mush, as it always rains in June just as their … Continue reading →

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Layers of Paint

Posted on 09/06/2016 by carolinemmurray

The great moment has arrived: Sebastiano del Piombo’s ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ has gone on display in the Flowers Room at the Fitzwilliam Museum, just outside the Italian Gallery where it may well finally hang.

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Object of the Month: May

Posted on 30/05/2016 by carolinemmurray

This month’s object (coming in just under the wire again – I blame (paradoxically) both my holiday and my new, blissful, part-time job!) may well look familiar. This is because it is one of the ‘Marlay Cuttings’ in the Fitzwilliam … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: May

Posted on 27/05/2016 by carolinemmurray

At the beginning of May last year, wisteria was flowering its head off in Venice. This year, at the same time, it was almost over, except for some plants on very shadowed or north-facing walls. And back at home, it … Continue reading →

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Pressing Matters

Posted on 24/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

In my view, you can never have too much of a good thing if that thing involves the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, so I was delighted a few days ago to participate in a study session on J.S. Henslow’s influence … Continue reading →

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Object of the Month: April

Posted on 21/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

This enormous jug was made at the Coalport factory in Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge Gorge, which is usually thought of as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. It was acquired for the Fitzwilliam Museum by the Friends in 2014, at a sale … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: April

Posted on 15/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

As a poet (rather than as an academic), A.E. Housman had the occasional lapse (who does not wince at the immortal lines, ‘The goal stands up, the keeper/Stands up to keep the goal’, in a stanza that Vaughan Williams refused … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: March

Posted on 27/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

Far be it from me to suggest that great minds work alike, but on returning from a happy expedition to photograph the species tulips in the alpine house at CUBG, I found that the Garden’s own ‘plant of the month’ … Continue reading →

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Etty Before Aunthood

Posted on 21/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

Lovers of Gwen Raverat’s memoir Period Piece will remember Aunt Etty as one of the more eccentric of a colourful band of Darwin aunts and uncles who populated her childhood. Henrietta Darwin (1843–1927) was the eldest surviving daughter of Charles … Continue reading →

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1816

Posted on 17/03/2016 by carolinemmurray

After the battle of Waterloo brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars and peace to Europe, everyone lived happily ever after (except Napoleon, obviously). The next thing to happen was the death of George III in 1820, after which the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment