Category Archives: Museums and Galleries

Object of the Month: January

Posted on 26/01/2016 by carolinemmurray

Among the most popular objects on display at the Museum of Cambridge (aka the Folk Museum) are two blue glass balls, known as witch balls. I do like a nice bit of glass, and these two attractive blue globes are … Continue reading →

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Armenian Bole

Posted on 04/01/2016 by carolinemmurray

No, me either, but I came across the term when I was looking up ‘gesso’, which is (among other things) the adhesive gunge on to which gold leaf is laid in illuminated manuscripts. The recipe for this type of gesso … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Object of the Month: December

Posted on 30/12/2015 by carolinemmurray

(Coming in just under the wire …) I had already selected this Christmas print from the Fitzwilliam Museum collection when I was astonished to have another confirmation of my theory that Everything is Connected to Everything Else. I’m reading the … Continue reading →

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A Grand Palais Day Out

Posted on 22/12/2015 by carolinemmurray

In order to mark one of those Significant Birthdays, I was offered a jaunt, and, throwing my usual caution (Ely?, or perhaps Bury St Edmunds?) to the winds, said ‘Let’s go to Paris for the day, to see the Vigée … Continue reading →

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Object of the Month: November

Posted on 24/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

This month’s object is a bit of a cheat. It is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, but is not currently on display – nor, according to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, when he viewed it in 1833, should it ever have … Continue reading →

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Object of the Month: October

Posted on 30/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

Moving on from the edible apples of autumn, it’s appropriate to consider the golden apples of the Hesperides, which can be viewed at the Fitzwilliam Museum, down the road from the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, in a small exhibition on … Continue reading →

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Behind the Scenes at the Museum

Posted on 16/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

Disambiguation, as they say on Wikipedia. This is not about the novel by the great Kate Atkinson (another Jackson Brodie! Soon! PLEASE!), but about the usually scruffy, draughty, unkempt warrens which tend to lurk behind many of our great national … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: September

Posted on 26/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

Decisions, decisions: the autumn equinox is producing such wonderful sights that I’m spoiled for choice for September’s plant of the month. Sedums, rudbeckias, penstemons, cyclamen, colchicums, and of course Michaelmas daisies – which I’m alarmed to see are undergoing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Object of the Month: September

Posted on 21/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

I’m not yet done with Venice (how could one ever be?), and this month’s highlighted object can currently be seen there, in the wonderful Ca’ Rezzonico (left), which, after a chequered history, is now the museum of eighteenth-century Venice. The … Continue reading →

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We Close in Venice (Part 3: Why Venice AGAIN?)

Posted on 14/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

As our holiday draws to an end, and we contemplate our return – to autumn, to cleansing of the liver, to new challenges, and to a totally pissed-off Max the Cat, who started getting antsy when we brought out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments