Tag Archives: Fitzwilliam Museum

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 Fitzwilliam Museum, Mediterranean archaeology, Royal Navy, Thomas Spratt | 4 Comments

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Posted on 01/03/2022 by carolinemmurray

Sadly, the moment has arrived. Yesterday, I packed up my mug, my spoon and my jar of decaffeinated coffee and left my lovely workplace for the last time. This, as my devoted followers (I can dream, can’t I?), will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Fitzwilliam Museum, retirement | 5 Comments

The Great Belzoni

Posted on 23/07/2019 by carolinemmurray

… is today hung on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum – or, at any rate, a spectacular likeness produced after his death is. I mentioned this fascinating character several times in my previous blogging persona, but his arrival in Cambridge … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Biography, Cambridge, Exploration, History, Italy, London, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Archaeology, Egypt, Fitzwilliam Museum, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Henry Salt, Rameses II, Rameses III, river Nile | Leave a comment

Object of the Month: March 2019

Posted on 20/03/2019 by carolinemmurray

May I strongly recommend the new exhibition in the Fan Gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum (it’s on until January 2020, so you have plenty of time)? It is a selection of the fan collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd, given … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, France, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged botanical fan, Erasmus Darwin, Fan Museum, fans, Fitzwilliam Museum, Sarah Ashton | 4 Comments

Object of the Month: February 2019

Posted on 20/02/2019 by carolinemmurray

I first came across William de Morgan in the second-hand bookshop in the stables at Wimpole Hall, an alarming number of years ago. His novel, Alice-for-Short (published 1907), was available for 50p, and I availed myself, drawn mostly by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, Literature, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Arts and Crafts, ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, lustre wares, Merton Abbey, novels, William de Morgan | 1 Comment

Object of the Month: January 2019

Posted on 19/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

I have mentioned before how the heroic toilers of the Fitzwilliam Museum rotate the displays, especially in the ceramics galleries, on a regular basis, so that one has to keep one’s eye peeled for novelty as one moves through. Last … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Bernard Rackham, ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, Glaisher bequest, John Wilkes, red stoneware, Victoria & Albert Museum | 1 Comment

Enter by the Founder’s

Posted on 26/08/2018 by carolinemmurray

… and exit by the gift shop. You can of course, alternatively, enter via the Courtyard, which takes you through/past the gift shop first, on your way to the café. Cambridge friends will realise that I am taking about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Cambridge, Classics, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries | Tagged architecture, C.R. Cockerell, Cambridge, Dr Victoria Avery, Fitzwilliam Museum, George Basevi, museums, portrait busts | 4 Comments

(Yet) Another Artist Of Whom I’d Never Heard

Posted on 05/07/2018 by carolinemmurray

Well, had you (assuming, of course, that you are not an expert in eighteenth-century French flower paintings) heard of Gerard van Spaendonck? You will gather from his name that he was not French – he was born in 1746, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, France, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged botanical paintings, Cornelis van Spaendonck, Fitzwilliam Museum, flower paintings, Gerard van Spaendonck, Lucy Cust, Redouté | 9 Comments

Object of the Month: June 2018

Posted on 29/06/2018 by carolinemmurray

This fire screen, standing 104 cm (3 ft 5 ins) tall, must in the summer have graced fireplace of a well-to-do eighteenth-century individual, probably in France. When I first noticed it, I thought it was embroidered, perhaps by a daughter … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, France, History, Literature, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Beauvais, Colbert, David Teniers, fire screen, Fitzwilliam Museum, Louis XIV, tapestry | 1 Comment

Object of the Month: May 2018

Posted on 19/05/2018 by carolinemmurray

How many bear jugs does one person need in his or her life? The answer, in the case of Dr J.W.L. Glaisher (about whom I have written before), appears to be at least twelve. This is the number bequeathed by … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Uncategorized | Tagged animal cruelty, Bankside, bear jugs, bear-baiting, ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, Shakespeare's London | 1 Comment