Category Archives: Museums and Galleries

Object of the Month: September 2017

Posted on 26/09/2017 by carolinemmurray

Now that I spend part of my time in a museum (tough gig, but somebody has to do it), I am getting quite good at pausing mid-stride and staring without actually falling over or causing anyone else to fall over. … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged cranes, Fitzwilliam Museum, Godfrey Gompertz, history of Korea, Korean pottery, W.M. Tapp | 5 Comments

Cats in Art

Posted on 28/07/2017 by carolinemmurray

If you were to be foolish enough to Google ‘Cats in art’ (and I really don’t recommend it) you would get ‘about 37,600,000 results’ – probably more by the time you read this: and a great many would look something … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged cats in art, dogs in art, Veronese, witchcraft | 6 Comments

Joseph Was An Old Man

Posted on 23/07/2017 by carolinemmurray

… and a very old man was he, according to the Cherry-Tree Carol, at any rate. William Henry Husk points out, in his note on the carol in Songs of the Nativity, that the description of Joseph as old has … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Botticelli, Nativity, religious paintings, Sebastiano del Piombo, significance of colour, St Joseph, Titian, use of colour | 1 Comment

Object of the Month: June 2017

Posted on 28/06/2017 by carolinemmurray

It may be stretching a point to call a small fragment of a painting an ‘object’ – the more so as the small fragment depicts two apparently living animals who may or may not have actually been alive when they … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged Den Haag, guinea pigs, Jan Brueghel I, Mauritshuis, Paulus Potter, Peter Paul Rubens, still life | 4 Comments

Plant of the Month: June 2017

Posted on 21/06/2017 by carolinemmurray

There is no doubt that, for a very long period, the pineapple was THE evidence, across Europe, of your wealth, your taste, and your ability to choose a head gardener for your estates who could manage a stove-house. This exotic … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Exploration, Gardens, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged Chelsea Physic Garden, Fitzwilliam Museum, hot house, Parks and Gardens UK, pineapple, plant of the month, still life | 4 Comments

Object of the Month: April 2017

Posted on 27/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

Over the Easter weekend, the children who live opposite were applying the life lesson of the Parable of the Talents to raise money for charity. Their school had given them £1, which they had to make grow, and the options … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Daniel Solander, EdUKaid, Margaret duchess of Portland, Mrs Delany, shells | 2 Comments

Only Connect

Posted on 20/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

As I never cease to remind everyone, everything is connected to everything else. This was once quoted in the immortal Yes Minister: as I recall, Sir Humphrey asks Bernard ‘Who said that?’; Bernard: ‘The Cabinet Secretary?’; Sir H: ‘Almost right, … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged Boboli Gardens, botanical gardens, Etruscans, Florence, Medici family, Pitti Palace, Santa Croce | 6 Comments

Lucca

Posted on 14/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

I never quite understood what was so great about St Martin slicing his cloak in two and giving half to a beggar: why didn’t he just hand over the whole cloak and be done with it? He was a soldier … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Exploration, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged botanic gardens, churches, Italy, Lucca | 8 Comments

Madonnas and Miracles

Posted on 01/04/2017 by carolinemmurray

I’ve recently had the pleasure and privilege of not one but three ‘private views’, with talks, of the new exhibition, ‘Madonnas and Miracles’, on at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, until 4 June. I’ve also popped in several times for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged earthquake, ex-votos, Fitzwilliam Museum, Holy House, Lonigo, Madonnas and Miracles, Naples, Tolentino | 4 Comments

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