Category Archives: History

The Stones of Lecce

Posted on 12/01/2023 by carolinemmurray

I think it is safe to say that 2022 was not a good year for the vast majority of people worldwide. My own issues will definitely sound pathetic by comparison with those of most people, not least the entire population … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, History, Italy | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Thomas Spratt, R.N.

Posted on 05/01/2023 by carolinemmurray

I discovered the other day that Thomas Able Brimage Spratt (1811–88) donated seven items of archaeological interest to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1853–4. I knew him as the author of a two-volume Travels and Researches in Crete (1865), which was … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Classics, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

William Crump and Others

Posted on 25/10/2022 by carolinemmurray

23 October 2022 was Apple Day @CUBotanicGarden, and after the glorious warm sunlight of the day before, it was a bit disconcerting to be walking down Bateman Street to the back entrance, poised to take my place with my knife … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

More Palazzi

Posted on 08/10/2022 by carolinemmurray

I have remarked in the past that for a person of my advanced age and  personal taste, the chief reason for being in Venice during the Biennale d’Arte (and this applies even more to the Biennale d’Architettura) is the opportunity … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Uncategorized, Venice | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The First King over the Water

Posted on 18/08/2022 by carolinemmurray

On 1 August 1714, Queen Anne died, and as a result of the Act of Settlement of 1701, her second cousin George, Elector of Hannover, became king of Great Britain. Some factions were already yearning for ‘The King over the … Continue reading →

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

Another Botanic Garden

Posted on 31/07/2022 by carolinemmurray

Coudeberg, Pierre Coudebergus, Petrus Coudenberch, Peeter van Coudenberg (Petrus) Coudenberg (Pierre) Coudenberg, Pieter Coudenbergh, Peter Coudenberghe, Peeter van Coudenberghe, Peter Coudenbergius, Petrus Coundenberg (Pieter) Koudenbergh Koudenbergh, Pieter are all the alternative spellings I have so far come across for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Belgium, Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | 6 Comments

Two Duchesses (Part Two)

Posted on 01/07/2022 by carolinemmurray

For those who are still with me, we now go back in time to look at the life and travails of Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma (1782–1824), queen of Etruria, duchess of Parma and duchess of Lucca. Her father was Charles … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two Duchesses (In Two Parts)

Posted on 29/06/2022 by carolinemmurray

I have to say that I am getting a bit fed up with the after-effects of Covid – eight weeks after I first tested positive and had very mild symptoms, I am still feeling exhausted and completely brain-fogged, hence the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Plant of the Month: April 2022

Posted on 07/04/2022 by carolinemmurray

I first (consciously) saw an Amelanchier lamarckii in the Abbey Gardens at Bury St Edmunds in spring some thirty years ago. At the time, it seemed a delightful, delicate and exotic rarity, but either they have become more popular or … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Saint Pantaleimon

Posted on 04/04/2022 by carolinemmurray

We’re recently back from a week in Venice, where the weather was glorious, and we spent a lot of time in churches, not least because some seem to be open now which never, ever, were in the last twenty years … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment