̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Tim Knox

Cambridge museums recognised with substantial Arts Council England funding

sjr81 — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 09:29:58 +0000

Kettle’s Yard, who work in partnership with UCM, has also been awarded £1,163,028 as part of ACE’s National Portfolio, further enhancing the role of the ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden as the largest cultural provider in the region.

Today’s announcement will enable the ̽��ֱ�� museums and collections to continue their mission of connecting more people with world-class collections of more than eight million objects, to reach new audiences who may face barriers to enjoying and participating in the museums, as well as facilitating and sharing exceptional international research for both Cambridge academics and a global community of researchers and scholars.

̽��ֱ��total economic impact of Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden was estimated to be at least £16m in 2015-16. ̽��ֱ��collections contribute to major academic studies at home and abroad, and last year the museums and Botanic Garden welcomed nearly one million visitors through their doors.

Professor Eilis Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations at Cambridge, said: “This significant announcement from Arts Council England recognises the important role that the ̽��ֱ��’s Museums and Botanic Garden play in research, learning, understanding and enjoyment. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums exist for all of us, and are open free to the public, and this funding will enable them to continue to share this resource for the future.

“Audience-focused programmes like India Unboxed are a perfect example of our museums’ engagement with communities not just at home, but many thousands of miles away, too. We are working with Indian designers and artists to enable more people to experience our outstanding collections from India, marking the UK-India Year of Culture 2017.

Fitzwilliam Museum Director and Chair of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums Steering Group, Tim Knox said: “National Portfolio status for both the UCM and Kettle’s Yard is a huge privilege and one we take very seriously. Arts Council England has fully supported the huge changes and development we have made in bringing the work of the museums and the Botanic Garden together, and with their continued support there is plenty of exciting work yet to be done.”

UCM Museums Officer Liz Hide said: “ ̽��ֱ��eight ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden represent the country’s highest concentration of internationally important collections outside London. Since 2012, Arts Council funding has transformed the way the museums can work together to open up their collections for everyone. We are delighted that Arts Council England recognises the positive impacts through their continuing support.”

Arts Council funding will enable the UCM to continue its work reaching out to public audiences and bringing the ̽��ֱ��’s exceptional collections and research to many more people, through popular programmes such as Summer at the Museums and a huge range of partnership work with schools, charities, community groups and other cultural organisations across Cambridgeshire and the wider region.

Through temporary and permanent exhibitions, visitors can explore paintings by Titian, Monet and Picasso, biological and geological specimens collected by Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton’s notebooks, Captain Scott’s last letters, early hominid tools discovered in East Africa by Louis Leakey, rare material from now-extinct Dodo, local archaeological and natural history collections, one of the world’s finest collections of casts of Greek and Roman sculpture, and meteorites and moon rock from beyond our planet.

Both Kettle’s Yard and the Museum of Zoology are currently undergoing major redevelopments and will reopen in the coming year with substantially improved exhibitions, visitor facilities and resources, demonstrating the ̽��ֱ��’s ongoing commitment to improve and increase access to its collections.

Recent innovations and successes for UCM have included Cam Lates – alternative, after-hours events at the museums featuring improv comedy, music and film screenings , Twilight at the Museums, where families explore the museums by torchlight after hours– and the launch of India Unboxed, a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions, events and a film series.

Cambridge’s reputation as a centre of excellence for museums and culture in the UK received a vital boost today when Arts Council England (ACE) awarded ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums (UCM) more than £4.8m and National Portfolio Organisation status from 2018-2022.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums exist for all of us.

Eilis Ferran

Martin Bond

Twilight at the Museums, ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum

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Seventy years of Indian independence celebrated with summer exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum

sjr81 — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 14:53:16 +0000

2017 is the UK-India Year of Culture, a year of events to celebrate UK’s cultural ties with India. ̽��ֱ��two exhibitions are part of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums’ India Unboxed series, affiliated to the UK/India 2017 programme run by the British Council.

From Kabul to Kolkata: Highlights of Indian painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum, showcases a selection of Indian miniature paintings and drawings from the 16th to 19th centuries. Works produced under the patronage of the Mughal dynasty and other princely rulers are included, as well as several acquired by early British patrons and collectors in India.

Religious epic and myth, history, royal portraiture, natural history, music and architecture are all included in the themes of the paintings and drawings on show. A new catalogue exploring the themes of the exhibition has been written by Marcus Fraser, Honorary Keeper of Islamic and Indian Manuscripts and Miniatures at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Elephants, Deities and Ashoka’s Pillar: Coins of India from antiquity to the present explores the history of India through coins produced from the 4th century BC until recent times. Cultural, religious, economic and political developments are richly illustrated by the coins on show. They focus on representative periods of India’s history, ending with a display of banknotes and coins produced since India became independent in 1947.

̽��ֱ��exhibitions are accompanied by a full programme of public events, including handling sessions of historic coins, lunchtime talks, art workshops and family events.

̽��ֱ��Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Tim Knox, said: “ ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum has a significant collection of Indian miniature paintings and drawings, the majority unpublished and little known. Many of these exquisite, finely detailed works are going on display for the first time. Our coin and medal collections are internationally celebrated and we are delighted to join this important year of Indian culture with some of our finest Indian treasures.”

From Kabul to Kolkata: Highlights of Indian painting in the Fitzwilliam Museum is on show until September 3, 2017 in the Shiba Gallery. Elephants, Deities and Ashoka’s Pillar: Coins of India from antiquity to the present is on show until October 1, 2017 in the Octagon Gallery. Entry to the Fitzwilliam Museum is free.

Two exhibitions and a new book have launched the Fitzwilliam Museum's celebration of the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence. ̽��ֱ��displays celebrate Cambridge’s past and present links with Indian culture with examples from the Museum’s world-class holdings of coins and its rarely-seen collection of Indian miniature painting.

Many of these exquisite, finely detailed works are going on display for the first time.

Tim Knox

̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum

Rama returns in victory to Ayodhya, Pahari (Punjab Hills), Kangra, c.1780-1790

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̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and ̽��ֱ��Duchess of Cornwall visit Cambridge to mark auspicious anniversaries

ag236 — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 13:00:16 +0000

Their Royal Highnesses were welcomed to the Fitzwilliam Museum by by the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Sir Hugh Duberly, by the Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, and by the Museum’s Director, Mr Tim Knox.

At the Museum, they met pupils from King’s Hedges School and Soham Village College taking part in educational activities designed by the museum to allow primary school children to interact with the exhibits.

̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and ̽��ֱ��Duchess of Cornwall met staff from the Fitzwilliam Museum, and were shown treasures from the Museum’s collection including a unique sculpture in wax, “Arabesque over the Right Leg, Left Arm in Front”, by Edgar Degas, and a European medieval illuminated manuscript.

Staff from the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library demonstrated the latest digitisation techniques, and displayed rare items from the UL’s collection including a copy of Charles Darwin’s On the origin of species by means of natural selection (1859) and Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome (1543).

Also at the Fitzwilliam, Their Royal Highnesses met with representatives of ̽��ֱ��-led and local outreach, education and development initiatives including the Cambridge-Africa Programme, the Cambridge Development Initiative, the Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre, the Campaign for Female Education, and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, of which ̽��ֱ��Prince is Patron. They were then introduced to foreign students awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarships.

Addressing Their Royal Highnesses after the Museum visit, the Vice-Chancellor said:

“It is especially gratifying to welcome ̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales back to Cambridge as one of our most distinguished alumni. There are some 230,000 active members of the ̽��ֱ��’s alumni networks around the world. His Royal Highness is not only one of the most prominent among them, but also one of the most supportive of the ̽��ֱ��. We are grateful for his key role as Patron to the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and to the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust.”

In the afternoon, Their Royal Highnesses attended a rehearsal of the King’s College Choir.

̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on Tuesday 29 November to mark the Fitzwilliam Museum’s bicentenary and to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library

His Royal Highness is not only one of the most prominent among our alumni, but also one of the most supportive of the ̽��ֱ��.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Nick Saffell

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COLOUR: ̽��ֱ��art and science of illuminated manuscripts

sjr81 — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 23:01:49 +0000

̽��ֱ��majority of the exhibits are from the Museum’s own rich collections, and those from the founding bequest of Viscount Fitzwilliam in 1816 can never leave the building and can only be seen at the Museum. For the first time, the secrets of master illuminators and the sketches hidden beneath the paintings will be revealed in a major exhibition presenting new art historical and scientific research.

Spanning the 8th to the 17th centuries, the 150 manuscripts and fragments in COLOUR: ̽��ֱ��Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts guide us on a journey through time, stopping at leading artistic centres of medieval and Renaissance Europe. Exhibits highlight the incredible diversity of the Fitzwilliam’s collection: including local treasures, such as the Macclesfield Psalter made in East Anglia c.1330-1340, a leaf with a self-portrait made by the Oxford illuminator William de Brailes c.1230-1250, and a medieval encyclopaedia made in Paris c.1414 for the Duke of Savoy.

Four years of cutting-edge scientific analysis and discoveries made at the Fitzwilliam have traced the creative process from the illuminators’ original ideas through their choice of pigments and painting techniques to the completed masterpieces.

“Leading artists of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance did not think of art and science as opposing disciplines,” said curator, Dr Stella Panayotova, Keeper of Manuscripts and Printed Books. “Instead, drawing on diverse sources of knowledge, they conducted experiments with materials and techniques to create beautiful works that still fascinate us today.”

Merging art and science, COLOUR shares the research of MINIARE (Manuscript Illumination: Non-Invasive Analysis, Research and Expertise), an innovative project based at the Fitzwilliam. Collaborating with scholars from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and international experts, the Museum’s curators, scientists and conservators have employed pioneering analytical techniques to identify the materials and methods used by illuminators.

“This has been an exciting project,” said research scientist, Dr Paola Ricciardi. “By combining imaging and spectroscopic analysis — methods more commonly associated with remote sensing and analytical chemistry — and by exploring such a diverse range of manuscripts, we can begin to understand how illuminators actually worked.”

“A popular misconception is that all manuscripts were made by monks and contained religious texts, but from the 11th century onwards professional scribes and artists were increasingly involved in a thriving book trade, producing both religious and secular texts. Scientific examination has revealed that illuminators sometimes made use of materials associated with other media, such as egg yolk, which was traditionally used as a binder by panel painters.”

Other discoveries include pigments rarely associated with manuscript illumination – such as the first ever example of smalt detected in a Venetian manuscript. Smalt, obtained by grinding blue glass, was found in a Venetian illumination book made c.1420. Evidently, the artist who painted it had close links with the famed glassmakers of Murano. This example predates by half a century the documented use of smalt in Venetian easel paintings.

Analyses of sketches lying beneath the paint surfaces, and of later additions and changes to paintings help to shed light on manuscripts and their owners. One French prayer book, made c.1430, was adapted over three generations to reflect the personal circumstances and dynastic anxieties of a succession of aristocratic women.

Adam and Eve were originally shown naked in an ABC commissioned c.1505 by the French Queen, Anne of Brittany (1476-1514) for her five-year-old daughter. However, a later owner, offended by the nudity, gave Eve a veil and Adam a skirt. Infrared imaging techniques and mathematical modelling have made it possible to reconstruct the original composition without harming the manuscript.

̽��ֱ��Museum’s treasures will be displayed alongside carefully selected loans — celebrated manuscripts from Cambridge libraries as well as other institutions in the UK and overseas. These include an 8th century Gospel Book from Corpus Christi College, the ̽��ֱ�� Library’s famous Life of Edward the Confessor, magnificent Apocalypses from Trinity College and Lambeth Palace, London, and a unique model book from Göttingen ̽��ֱ��.

Visitors will be encouraged to make their own discoveries in the exhibition galleries and online through a new, free digital resource: ILLUMINATED: Manuscripts in the Making. With hundreds of high resolution digital images and infrared photographs, this interactive, cross-disciplinary resource offers users in-depth information on the manuscripts’ contents, patrons, cultural and historical contexts, as well as scientific data relating to artists’ techniques and materials.

With over 300 illustrations in full colour, the authoritative exhibition catalogue encompasses subjects as diverse as the trade in pigments, painting techniques, the medieval science of optics and modern-day forgeries. Catalogue entries and essays by leading experts offer readers insight into all aspects of colour from the practical application of pigments to its symbolic meaning.

“We are delighted to be presenting this exhibition in our bicentenary year,” said director, Tim Knox. “Ten years ago ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Illuminations was the Museum’s first ever record-breaking exhibition, attracting over 80,000 visitors. People were enchanted by the remarkable beauty and delicacy of the manuscripts. I am convinced that our bicentenary visitors will again be equally inspired by the superb illuminations collected and treasured at the Fitzwilliam for 200 years, and will value this rare opportunity to find out how they were made and how we are preserving them for the future.”

COLOUR: ̽��ֱ��Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts will run during the second half of the Fitzwilliam’s bicentenary year, from 30 July to 30 December 2016. Admission is free.

Some of the finest illuminated manuscripts in the world – treasures combining gold and precious pigments – will go on display today in celebration of the Fitzwilliam Museum’s bicentenary.

Leading artists of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance did not think of art and science as opposing disciplines.

Stella Panayotova

All images © ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Book of Hours, Use of Rome, ̽��ֱ��Three Living and the Three Dead, Western France, c.1490-1510

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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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Major Partner Museum status for UCM

sjr81 — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 16:39:51 +0000

Over the last three years, Cambridge has made full use of previous Arts Council funding to transform the way its eight major museums work in partnership, and to unlock their world-class collections for both Cambridge and the wider world.

Major successes have included the Thresholds poetry project, curated by Carol Ann Duffy, and Discoveries at 2 Temple Place in London.

Discoveries, now transferred to ̽��ֱ��Fitzwilliam Museum, is the first-ever joint exhibition to involve all ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums and the first exhibition of Cambridge’s globally important research collections to be held outside the city.

And there was further good news today as Kettle’s Yard received first stage backing from Arts Council England to support the creation of a new Education Wing. ̽��ֱ��Arts Council funding, totalling £3.5m, is a substantial step towards the campaign target of £8.7m. Arts Council England have also renewed Kettle’s Yard National Portfolio Organisation status and committed £446,271 funding for the next three years.

Dr Jennifer Barnes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International Strategy), and Chair of the General Board Museums Committee, said: “These significant awards announced on the same day, recognize the essential role museums and collections play in research, teaching and understanding. Each collection is of global significance, adding an extraordinary dimension to our university, community and region. Cambridge Museums, whether working as a single collection or together, demonstrate that curating the past is about understanding the present and creating new futures. These awards allow us to share that future with all who come to Cambridge, of all ages, whether as visitors, students or researchers.”

UCM plan to use the next round of Arts Council funding to consolidate ongoing progress into understanding, widening and diversifying its audience. Major steps to achieving this have already been undertaken with imaginative learning programmes, digital innovation and deeper connections with communities both in and beyond Cambridge.

UCM is also taking the lead in joining up arts and cultural provision across the city, with Curating Cambridge – a five-week programme of cultural events and activities from October 20 – typifying this new approach.

Tim Knox, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: “Being afforded Major Partner Museum status is a huge privilege and one we take very seriously. Arts Council England has fully supported the great strides we’ve made in recent years and, with their continued support, there is plenty of exciting work yet to be undertaken.”

Liz Hide, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums Officer, said: “Here in Cambridge, we are lucky in having many exceptional museums, each of which contribute to the academic, social and community work of the ̽��ֱ��. Our ongoing goal now is to open up the cultural riches of Cambridge to as wide and diverse an audience as possible.”

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “We are pleased to continue supporting ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums. It proposes to deliver an ambitious and broad ranging programme of activity that will support transformational access to its key collections. Its programme of activity will help further develop its position as a leading centre of excellence for conservation and collections based research. It will also continue to build on its pioneering community and lifelong learning programmes, whilst also establishing itself as a centre for innovative digital engagement. ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums also plans to reach more children and young people, with a particular emphasis on using digital platforms, ensuring they have the opportunity to engage with and be inspired by its collections. This work will be underpinned by its exemplar commitment to environmental sustainability, resilience and its support for museums and gallery career and workforce development.”

̽��ֱ��vision of securing Cambridge’s reputation as an international centre of museums excellence received a major boost today when Arts Council England awarded ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums (UCM) nearly £4.5m for 2015-18 and continuing Major Partner Museum status.

Each collection is of global significance, adding an extraordinary dimension to our university, community and region.

Jennifer Barnes

Sir Cam

Polar snow goggles from Discoveries at London’s 2 Temple Place, the first joint exhibition from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Museums, and the first to be held outside the city.

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Five paintings by Stanley Spencer accepted in lieu of tax and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge

sj387 — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 12:05:46 +0000

Stanley Spencer is recognised as one of the most important British painters of the 20^th century. Born in Cookham, Berkshire in 1891, at the age of 17 he went to study at the Slade School of Art in London. ̽��ֱ��group of five works allocated to the Fitzwilliam were formerly in the collection of wood engraver Gwen Raverat, grand-daughter of Charles Darwin, who first met Stanley Spencer when they both enrolled at the Slade School in 1908. They became life-long friends, Gwen dubbing Spencer ‘Cookham’ in recognition of the affection Spencer held for his home village.

John Donne arriving in Heaven was painted by Spencer when he was still at the Slade aged 20. It was one of the most important works of his early career and was shown at the second Post Impressionist Exhibition (1912) where it was hung in the same gallery as works by artists including Matisse and Picasso. Spencer shows the poet crossing Widbrook Common; he passes four figures, each praying in a different direction to express the all-encompassing nature of Heaven. Spencer regarded the picture highly saying it came ‘more directly from my imagination than any I have ever done.’ It is one of the first works where he sets a religious event in an English rural setting, a concept that would be a hallmark of many of his later great masterpieces.

Scrubbing Clothes and Making a Red Cross were painted in 1919 when Spencer had returned from the war. Originally he had been commissioned by the Ministry of Information to work up these war studies into paintings, but instead they inspired part of his decorations for the Sandham Memorial Chapel. Scrubbing Clothes depicts men of Spencer’s Field Ambulance Unit washing their clothes on boulders in the River Struma. Making a Red Cross shows the unit laying out a cross made of broken tiles and rocks as a recognition signal to aircraft. Both studies show his natural sense of design.

In 1932 Gwen Raverat proposed that Spencer paint decorative panels for two 10-foot semi-circular spaces over the doors of the Reading Room of the new ̽��ֱ�� Library, then under construction in Cambridge. Unfortunately Syndics of the Library could not afford the project; the sketch Builders of the Tower of Babel and the small oil painting Making Columns for the Tower of Babel were all that remain of this suggested commission.

̽��ֱ��five paintings join the Fitzwilliam’s fine collection of early 20th-century British paintings, which already includes eight paintings and four drawings by Spencer. ̽��ֱ��collection features some of Spencer’s most famous canvases; Love among the Nations (1935-36), Self-Portrait with Patricia Preece (1937), Self-Portrait (1939) and Love on the Moor (1949-1954). ̽��ֱ��institution is one of the most important places to study the artist outside London.

̽��ֱ��works have been acquired for the nation through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, administered by Arts Council England from the estate of Gwen Raverat and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Tax of £167,883 was settled by their acceptance. As their total value exceeded the liability on the estate, the Fitzwilliam Museum made good the difference of £308,117 with the help of generous grants from the Art Fund, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Tim Knox, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum commented: “ ̽��ֱ��five works by Spencer that have been added to the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collection greatly enrich our holdings of this interesting and very English artist. Moreover, they also have a strong Cambridge connection. We are grateful to the AIL Scheme for allocating these works to the Museum, and to the generous donors who supplied the additional funds needed to secure them.”

̽��ֱ��new acquisitions are now on display with other 20^th-century British works in the recently refurbished Gallery 1 at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chair of Arts Council England said: “That these five works have been offered in lieu of inheritance tax and can now be permanently accessed by members of the public, means that important parts of our own history, society and identity are not lost, hidden in houses, but are part of an institution’s collection, open to interpretation and educating and inspiring people.”

Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund, said: “Stanley Spencer is one of the greatest British artists of the 20^th century and it is with great pleasure that we support the Fitzwilliam Museum's acquisition of this group of exceptional works. It is another example of the benefits of the government's Acceptance-in-Lieu scheme to UK museums, galleries, and their visiting public.”

̽��ֱ��five paintings are - John Donne arriving in Heaven (1911), Scrubbing Clothes (1919), Making a Red Cross (1919), Builders of the Tower of Babel (1933), Making Columns for the Tower of Babel (1933)

Five works by Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) have been accepted in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. They include one of his most significant early paintings and two preliminary sketches documenting his experiences of World War I. ̽��ֱ��works were acquired through HM Government’s acceptance in lieu scheme with additional support from the Art Fund, ̽��ֱ��V&A Purchase Grant Fund and the Friends of the Fitzwilliam.

̽��ֱ��five works by Spencer that have been added to the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collection greatly enrich our holdings of this interesting and very English artist

Tim Knox

Stanley Spencer/Fitzwilliam Museum

Making Columns for the Tower of Babel (1933)

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