Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745–1816). The museum has a wonderful collection of art and old objects from many parts of the world.

The museum’s treasures include artworks by Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Vincent van Gogh, Renoir, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Van Dyck, and Canaletto, as well as a special bas-relief from Nimrud. You can visit the museum for free. It works with the University of Cambridge Museums and is supported by Arts Council England.

Foundation and buildings

The Fitzwilliam Museum began in 1816 with a collection from Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam. It first opened in the Perse School building in Free School Lane and then moved to the Old Schools in central Cambridge.

The main building, called the "Founder's Building," was built between 1837 and 1843. George Basevi designed it, and C. R. Cockerell finished it. The museum opened to the public in 1848. In 1931, the museum added a new two-storey extension.

Collection

The Fitzwilliam Museum has five main areas: Antiquities, Applied Arts, Coins and Medals, Rare Manuscripts and Printed Books, and Paintings, Drawings and Prints. These areas include items from ancient Egypt, Nubia, Greece, and Rome, as well as Western Asiatic displays and Cypriot art. There are also applied arts such as pottery, glass, furniture, clocks, fans, armour, and art from China, Japan, and Korea. The museum has coins and medals, special manuscripts and rare books, and many paintings by famous artists like Simone Martini, Domenico Veneziano, Titian, Van Dyck, Frans Hals, Canaletto, Hogarth, Gainsborough, Constable, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Picasso. It also has miniatures, drawings, watercolours, and prints.

There is a large collection of 16th-century Elizabethan virginal manuscript music by composers such as William Byrd, Doctor John Bull, Orlando Gibbons, and Thomas Tallis.

The Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum were updated in 2006 after two years of work. This allowed more ancient items to be shown to the public. These galleries are very popular and help visitors learn about ancient Egyptian life through interactive displays. Today, they contain some of the best Egyptian collections outside the British Museum.

The museum has many paintings and sketches by artists like Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Vincent van Gogh, Cézanne, Degas, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Canaletto, Constable, and Renoir. It also has a large group of works by J. M. W. Turner, started with watercolour drawings given to the university by John Ruskin in 1861. The museum’s Pre-Raphaelite paintings include a version of Ford Madox Brown’s The Last of England.

Many paintings at the museum are lent by colleges of the University of Cambridge, such as impressionist paintings owned by King’s College. Donations to the museum include a personal collection given by economist Maynard Keynes, which has works like Cézanne’s Still Life With Apples.

Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum

The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum started in 1909. It is the oldest group in Britain that helps museums. This group has helped the museum buy important artworks and improve its buildings. Today, they focus on getting new modern art and building a special fund to keep the museum special for the future.

Princess Alexandra of Kent is the president of the Fitzwilliam Museum Development Trust.

Directors

Many people have led the Fitzwilliam Museum as directors over the years. Some of these leaders include Sidney Colvin from 1876 to 1884, Sir Charles Walston from 1883 to 1889, and John Henry Middleton from 1889 to 1892. Others who have served as directors are Montague Rhodes James, Sir Sydney Cockerell, and Louis Clarke, among many more. The museum is still led by new directors today.

Curators and keepers

The Fitzwilliam Museum had special helpers called honorary keepers who looked after its collections. One of them was Winifred Lamb, who helped take care of Greek and Roman antiques from 1920 to 1958.