Category Archives: History

The Mystery of Sant’ Eufemia

Posted on 21/05/2016 by carolinemmurray

Of the 118 churches in Venice (that is, the surviving ones, as opposed to the demolished/decayed/collapsed, of which there are about fifty), many are never (in my experience) open. There is a uniform notice on each one, telling you what … Continue reading →

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

The Venice Test!

Posted on 11/05/2016 by carolinemmurray

‘It’s very naughty of me, but I would like to set an examination paper at Dover, and turn back every tourist who couldn’t pass it.’ Thus Miss Eleanor Lavish, the self-described Radical and New Woman, and one of E.M. Forster’s … Continue reading →

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

O Venusta Sirmio

Posted on 08/05/2016 by carolinemmurray

… as Catullus remarked on returning thankfully from a period of diplomatic activity in the Middle East. (Nothing changes much after more than two millennia, alas.) I’m not sure when it was that airports began to (re)name themselves after people … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Classics, History, Literature, Natural history | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Capabilities

Posted on 29/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

To the auditorium of the Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge (the amazingly heavy door of which was clearly not designed for the demographic of the Friends of Cambridge University Botanic Garden). However, we are stalwart types, and having overcome this obstacle, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Gardens, History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Biography, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Maker of Devils

Posted on 12/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

I was thinking of calling this piece ’36 Hours in s’ Hertogenbosch’, but some of those hours were spent sleeping, and anyway I then came across the fascinating information that Jeroen van Aken, aka Hieronymus Bosch, was also known as … Continue reading →

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

Maria Dundas/Graham/Callcott

Posted on 07/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

Maria Dundas, later Graham, later Callcott, is another of the cohort of women (Fry, Coutts, Nightingale, Marcet, Caroline Herschel …) who give the lie to the nineteenth-century cliché about the angel in the house. Born on 19 July 1785 near … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

St Lubbock And His Pet Wasp

Posted on 03/04/2016 by carolinemmurray

A mostly self-taught polymath who knew everyone there was to known for two-thirds of the nineteenth century, banker, philanthropist, Member of Parliament, archaeologist, anthropologist, entomologist, geologist, best-selling author, slight eccentric (see pet wasp, and teaching poodle to read, below) and … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Biography, History, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Cambridge, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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