̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums

How human Aboriginal remains were traded for scientific accolades

jg533 — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 09:37:03 +0000

Victorian collector traded human Aboriginal remains for scientific accolades, study reveals

Cambridge collections awarded Arts Council England funding

ta385 — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

ACE has awarded renewed National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status to the consortium of seven museums (£617,534) and to Kettle’s Yard, the ̽��ֱ��'s contemporary art gallery (£296,107).

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� cares for the country’s highest concentration of internationally important collections outside London, with more than five million works of art, artefacts and specimens.

Together, they form an international tourist attraction and the largest cultural provider in the East of England, one of the country’s most rapidly growing regions.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� museums work closely together with the ̽��ֱ��’s Botanic Garden, Library and other collections, and Cambridge’s independent museums and cultural organisations, providing vital sector support across Cambridgeshire and the region.

“ ̽��ֱ�� collections have a unique power to bring people together from across the world to explore today’s big questions, looking at the past and present to help determine our future," said Kamal Munir, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for ̽��ֱ�� Community & Engagement.

"This is a difficult funding landscape and we know that ACE were faced with hard decisions during an investment round that received more applications than ever before. In that context, we’re especially pleased to have received further investment in the ̽��ֱ�� collections.

"While this grant represents a reduction of 40% from current funding levels, it is heartening to see this continued recognition of the important role the collections play within our local communities," Munir said.

Driven by research and shaped by communities, the work of the museums is grounded in the ̽��ֱ��’s commitment to contribute to society through education, learning and research at the highest levels of excellence, and encompasses collaboration with world-renowned contemporary artists, game-changing research-led exhibitions and wide-ranging inclusion and learning programmes, promoting wellbeing, creativity and connectivity.

“While there is no doubt that this significant reduction to our current level of Arts Council England funding represents a major challenge, we’re grateful for the support announced today, especially given the difficult times that many people are facing," said Luke Syson, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, lead partner of the museums NPO.

"As we look ahead to our future, we remain committed to continuing to engage the widest possible audience, both in the enormously unequal region of Cambridgeshire and beyond, and look forward to working with ACE and other partners and funders to deliver our ambitious programmes.”

̽��ֱ��museums are undertaking a long-term investigation into the legacies of empire and enslavement, and are currently sharing findings and inviting challenge and conversation with audiences and communities through a major public programme, Power and Memory. An upcoming collaborative programme will also inspire action to mitigate the climate crisis through engaging audiences with innovative environmental research.

Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle’s Yard said: “We are proud to continue to be an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation. This core funding supports our work making outstanding exhibitions, conserving and animating the house and collection, engaging with diverse community groups and providing a learning programme - so contributing powerfully to the Let’s Create strategy.”

Jo McPhee, Head of Partnerships, added: “Cambridge is frequently ranked as the most unequal city in the country. Our communities and the sector are facing increasingly challenging times. Despite a reduction in our funding, we will continue to work with delivery partners, including the City and County Councils, and cultural sector colleagues to support our communities and create a flourishing cultural offer that’s open and accessible to everyone.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums are

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Museum of Classical Archaeology
Fitzwilliam Museum
Kettle’s Yard
Polar Museum
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Museum of Zoology

Culture in Cambridge receives a boost with a £913,641 Arts Council England (ACE) award to the ̽��ֱ��’s museums and collections.

It is heartening to see this continued recognition of the important role the collections play within our local communities

Kamal Munir

Visitors in the Fitzwilliam Museum

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̽��ֱ��museum technician who found her place among ancient faces

cg605 — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:19:55 +0000

When Charis Millett realised that being a museum technician was the job for her, she worked day and night to make it happen. She speaks about her passion for transporting museum-goers to another time and why Blue Peter may have more in common with museum technicians than you might think.

World’s oldest, illustrated Sanskrit manuscript launches India Unboxed film series

sjr81 — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 16:03:08 +0000

̽��ֱ��answer is India – and Cambridge. Among the many millions of objects held across the ̽��ֱ��’s eight museums, Botanic Garden, Centre for South Asian Studies, and ̽��ֱ�� Library, are a huge number of wonders related to the world’s largest democracy.

̽��ֱ��stories behind some of these singular objects are being told in a series of short films as part of a year-long celebration across the ̽��ֱ�� and city of Cambridge to mark the UK–India Year of Culture 2017.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian independence in 2017, Cambridge has turned its gaze eastwards with India Unboxed – to highlight the astonishing artworks, artefacts, orchids and scientific instruments that have made their way to Cambridge over the past 800 years.

̽��ֱ��films will explore and explain why a tin of Fine Indian and Ceylon Tea was packed for an Antarctic expedition at the turn of the 20th century; how a brass transit instrument was used in the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India; and what a gharial actually is.

Malavika Anderson, Cultural Programmer for the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums, said: “ ̽��ֱ��collections of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums include a fascinating variety of objects, specimens, art works, photographs and manuscripts from across South Asia.

“India Unboxed is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate these significant collections - to look closer at the fascinating and often complex stories of identity and connectivity between the UK and the Indian subcontinent. Throughout this year the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums will host special exhibitions, events and experiences that invite you to explore India through our collections.

India Unboxed is rooted in the ̽��ֱ��’s museum collections, and involves academics, local diasporic communities and artists from India and the UK. ̽��ֱ��rich programme creatively unpicks the tangled relationships of the two countries, fusing historical context with contemporary perspectives.

̽��ֱ��India Unboxed film series begins with ̽��ֱ��Perfection of Wisdom – taking a close look at the world’s oldest dated and illustrated Sanskrit manuscript, held at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library.

Over the course of six centuries Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library’s collection has grown from a few dozen volumes on a handful of subjects into an extraordinary accumulation of several million books, maps, manuscripts and journals.

̽��ֱ��library is also home to an extraordinary collection of Buddhist works, amongst which is one very important Sanskrit palm leaf manuscript.

This manuscript is about a thousand years old and has one of the most famous titles in world literature — the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā or ̽��ֱ��Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines. ̽��ֱ��Perfection of Wisdom offers a path to enlightenment and signifies the formal introduction to Buddhist thought.

Certain events from the Buddha’s life feature prominently: his birth, his first teaching, his death, the attack by an elephant, the monkey giving him honey, and his return to Sāmkāśya after teaching his mother in heaven.

Craig Jamieson, Keeper of Sanskrit Manuscripts at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library, said: “ ̽��ֱ��many beautiful and well-preserved images are tiny but incredibly complex at the same time. Given that the nature of the medium, the palm leaf, places many restrictions on what an artist can do, the variety and detail in the illustrations of these manuscripts is astonishing.

“To this day,1,000 years on, the palm leaf manuscripts are still helping to further research on the intellectual traditions, religious cults, literature and political ideas of South Asia.”

Over the course of the series, Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library is one of just eleven collections showcased in film. Other collections include: the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Botanic Garden, the Museum of Classical Archaeology, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Polar Museum, and the archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies.

For more information about the India Unboxed exhibitions, events, digital interventions, discussions and installations, visit www.india.cam.ac.uk

What connects a head-hunter’s trophy, a meteorite, Hercules, a painting of a Hindu temple, an ornate desk, a brass instrument, a tin of tea (unopened), an exotic orchid, a gharial, stacks of home movies and 8,000 lines of Sanskrit manuscript?

To this day, 1,000 years on, the palm leaf manuscripts are still helping to further research.

Craig Jamieson

India Unboxed: ̽��ֱ��Perfection of Wisdom

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Saving a renaissance masterpiece: Fitzwilliam Museum wins award for decade-long restoration

sjr81 — Fri, 19 May 2017 14:04:46 +0000

̽��ֱ��conservation work on Sebastiano de Piombo's (1485–1547) 'Adoration of the Shepherds' c.1510, one of the founding Renaissance works in the Fitzwilliam’s collections, won the restoration and conservation award at the 2017 Museum and Heritage Awards in London on Wednesday evening.

̽��ֱ��Judges said: “ ̽��ֱ��Restoration and Conservation award goes to a project which represents restoration at its very best – painstaking in its research and meticulous in its care attention, resulting in the rescue of a masterpiece.”

̽��ֱ��meticulous project was undertaken by the Fitzwilliam’s painting conservation department, the Hamilton Kerr Institute, and enabled the masterpiece to go on show at the museum for the first time in 70 years. ̽��ֱ��project was completed in the 40th anniversary year of the Hamilton Kerr Institute in time to return to the galleries in 2016 - in celebration of the Museum’s 200th birthday.

̽��ֱ��physical history of Sebastiano del Piombo’s Adoration of the Shepherds is remarkable and explains why the research and conservation project at the Hamilton Kerr Institute took so many years to complete.

̽��ֱ��picture was originally painted on a wooden panel, but while owned by the Duc de Orléans in 18th century Paris, the paint layers were removed and transferred onto canvas in a misguided attempt to preserve it. This caused widespread damage to the original paint and the composition was almost completely overpainted in subsequent attempts at restoration. However, critical areas of the original paint remained intact and it was decided to remove all the old overpainting and bring the composition back to life by judicious and specialised restoration of the losses.

Rupert Featherstone, Director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute said: “We have researched and unravelled the entire history of the painting, uncovering the original, from layers and layers of overpaint and varnish. Then we painstakingly reconstructed the missing areas, to faithfully recreate Sebastiano’s painting.”

In order to understand the artist’s technique, a microscopic particle of paint, smaller than the head of a pin, was taken from the Virgin’s blue robe and analysed under a microscope during research. Examination of the paint cross-section demonstrated Sebastiano’s sophisticated system of layering with an application of pink paint beneath the blue, as well as his use of superior and expensive pigments, such as ultramarine blue.

This and other forms of state-of-the-art analysis greatly helped to reconstruct the missing areas. Close study of an early full-size copy of Sebastiano’s original painting from ̽��ֱ��Louvre, Paris, made sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century – before Sebastiano’s painting was transferred from wood to canvas – was important in reconstructing areas of significant paint loss.

Added Featherstone: “We have conserved over 3,000 pictures in the last forty years at the HKI, but the Sebastiano is one of our biggest projects. Some might have argued to leave the painting as an archaeological relic, but I think we have made the right judgement to restore it so it can be appreciated as the masterpiece it is, aesthetically and historically. ̽��ֱ��scientific research that was conducted to aid our understanding of the technique of the artist has been key in being able to recreate it.”

Sebastiano del Piombo spent his early years in Venice where he learnt the art of painting under Giovanni Bellini (c.1431-1516) and then Giorgione (1477-1510). At the invitation of the prominent patron and Sienese banker Agostino Chigi (1466-1520), Sebastiano moved to Rome in 1511, just as Michelangelo (1475-1564) unveiled the first part of his decoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo and Sebastiano developed a close friendship, sharing drawings, ideas and designs.

̽��ֱ��Adoration of the Shepherds was painted soon after Sebastiano moved to Rome, and demonstrates the influence of Giorgione’s ̽��ֱ��Adoration of the Shepherds (National Gallery of Art, Washington) in its overall composition and Venetian colouring, but with a sense of Roman form gained from Michelangelo.

̽��ֱ��picture was considered to be by Giorgione when the founder of the Fitzwilliam, Lord Fitzwilliam, bought it after the French Revolution in 1800 at the sale in London of the Duc de Orléans’ collection. In 1913, it was attributed to Sebastiano on the basis of the fusion of elements characteristic of the Roman school – such as the monumental figures – and others more closely associated with Venetian painting, notably the rich colours and lyrical landscape background.

̽��ֱ��Hamilton Kerr Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for teaching and research into the conservation of easel paintings and historical painting techniques and materials. As a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Institute has undertaken the conservation of paintings in its collections since its foundation forty years ago, and it also takes on conservation projects for other clients such as the Royal Collection and the National Trust.

̽��ֱ��riverside property was given to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge for the Fitzwilliam Museum by the late Sir Hamilton Kerr (1903-74), previously the MP for Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��conservation of the painting has been partly funded by the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Marlay Group.

Sebastiano del Piombo’s Adoration of the Shepherds can now be seen in the Fitzwilliam’s Italian Gallery (7). A film about the restoration is available to view on YouTube.

A ten-year research and restoration project to save one of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Renaissance masterpieces was rewarded with a major national accolade this week.

We have researched and unravelled the entire history of the painting.

Rupert Featherstone

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̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum is 200 today

sjr81 — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 14:48:51 +0000

Research for a new book has shown how his beloved library may have contributed to his death, and how his passion for music led him to the love of his life: a French dancer with whom he had two children, ‘Fitz’ and ‘Billy’.

̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum: a History is written by Lucilla Burn, Assistant Director for Collections at the Fitzwilliam. She said: “Lord Fitzwilliam’s life has been described as ‘deeply obscure’. Many men of his class and period, who sought neither fame nor notoriety, nor wrote copious letters or diaries, do not leave a conspicuous record. But by going through the archives and letters that relate to him, for the first time we can paint a fuller picture of his history, including aspects of his life that have previously been unknown, even to staff here at the Fitzwilliam.”

Lord Fitzwilliam died on the 4th of February 1816, and founded the Fitzwilliam Museum through the bequest to the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge of his splendid collection of art, books and manuscripts, along with £100,000 to build the Museum. This generous gift began the story of one of the finest museums in Britain, which now houses over half a million artworks and antiquities.

Other than his close connection to Cambridge and his love of art and books, a motivation for Fitzwilliam’s bequest may have been his lack of legitimate heirs. ̽��ֱ��new details of his mistress help to explain why he never married.

In 1761 Richard Fitzwilliam entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and in 1763 his Latin ode, Ad Pacem, was published in a volume of loyal addresses to George III printed by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. He made a strong impression on his tutor, the fiercely ambitious Samuel Hallifax, who commissioned Joseph Wright of Derby to paint a fine portrait of Fitzwilliam on his graduation with an MA degree in 1764.

Fitzwilliam’s studies continued after Cambridge; he travelled widely on the continent, perfecting his harpsichord technique in Paris with Jacques Duphly, an eminent composer, teacher and performer. A number of Fitzwilliam’s own harpsichord compositions have survived, indicating he was a gifted musician.
But from 1784 he was also drawn to Paris by his passionate attachment to Marie Anne Bernard, a dancer at the Opéra whose stage name was Zacharie. With Zacharie, Fitzwilliam fathered three children, two of whom survived infancy – little boys known to their parents as ‘Fitz’ and ‘Billy’. How the love affair ended is unknown, but its fate was clouded, if not doomed, by the French Revolution.

We do not know what happened to Zacharie after her last surviving letter, written to Lord Fitzwilliam late in December 1790. Her health was poor, so it is possible that she died in France. However, the elder son, ‘Fitz’, Henry Fitzwilliam Bernard, his wife Frances and their daughter Catherine were alive and living in Richmond with Lord Fitzwilliam at the time of the latter’s death in 1816. It is not known what happened to ‘Billy’.

At the age of seventy, early in August 1815, Lord Fitzwilliam fell from a ladder in his library and broke his knee. This accident may have contributed to his death the following spring; and on 18 August that year Fitzwilliam drew up his last will and testament. Over the course of his life he had travelled extensively in Europe; by the time of his death he had amassed around 144 paintings, including masterpieces by Titian, Veronese and Palma Vecchio, 300 carefully ordered albums of Old Master prints, and a magnificent library containing illuminated manuscripts, musical autographs by Europe’s greatest composers and 10,000 fine printed books.

His estates were left to his cousin’s son, George Augustus Herbert, eleventh Earl of Pembroke and eighth Earl of Montgomery. But he also carefully provided for his relatives and dearest friends. ̽��ֱ��family of Fitzwilliam’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzwilliam Bernard (‘Fitz’), including his wife and daughter, received annuities for life totalling £2,100 a year.
On his motivation for leaving all his works of art to the ̽��ֱ��, he wrote: “And I do hereby declare that the bequests so by me made to the said Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the said ̽��ֱ�� are so made to them for the purpose of promoting the Increase of Learning and the other great objects of that Noble Foundation.”

Fitzwilliam Museum Director Tim Knox said: “ ̽��ֱ��gift Viscount Fitzwilliam left to the nation was one of the most important of his age. This was the period when public museums were just beginning to emerge. Being a connoisseur of art, books and music, our Founder saw the importance of public collections for the benefit of all. But we are also lucky that his life circumstances enabled him to do so - had there been a legitimate heir, he might not have been able to give with such liberality. From the records we have discovered he appears to have been as generous as he was learned: he arranged music concerts to raise funds for charity, and helped many people escaping the bloodiest moments of the French Revolution. We are delighted to commemorate our Founder in our bicentenary year.”

Exhibitions and events for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Bicentenary will be taking place throughout 2016. These include two key exhibitions opening in February, a retrospective of its history, Celebrating the First 200 Years: ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum 1816 – 2016, and a major exhibition of Egyptian antiquities, Death on the Nile: Uncovering the afterlife of ancient Egypt. For more information visit www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk.

Today, one of the great collections of art in the UK celebrates its bicentenary. Two hundred years to the day of his death, the Fitzwilliam Museum has revealed previously unknown details of the life of its mysterious founder, Richard 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion.

̽��ֱ��gift Viscount Fitzwilliam left to the nation was one of the most important of his age

Tim Knox

Celebrating 200 years of the Fitzwilliam Museum

̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum today

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