A Century of Giving

Section One: 1909-1937

From pig-stye to palace: Sydney Cockerell and the transformation of the Fitzwilliam

No individual (with the exception of the Founder himself) has done more to shape the Fitzwilliam Museum than Sir Sydney Cockerell. During his 29-year directorship, (1908-1937) he transformed the Fitzwilliam from an exclusive gallery, with a cluttered and miscellaneous collection, into a model public art institution 'open to all the world'. He also introduced furniture, ceramics, rugs, and fresh flowers into the galleries, creating the distinctive 'country house' atmosphere visitors still experience today.

Cockerell combined an exceptional talent for friendship with a ruthless business sense. Through a series of loans, gifts and bequests, extracted from a succession of wealthy benefactors, he increased and enriched every aspect of the Museum's collections. The funds for the Marlay Wing, Courtauld Galleries, Charrington Print Room and Armoury - new buildings which effectively doubled the Museum's size - were provided by individual benefactors whose personal friendship Cockerell had cultivated. His fund-raising methods were sometimes brutally direct. A friend called him 'a scrounger of genius'.

Using the expertise of Honorary Keepers, appointed for the first time, Cockerell built on the existing strengths of the Fitzwilliam's holdings: its illuminated manuscripts, prints, paintings, music and rare books. He also established entirely new categories of objects: European and Oriental pottery, Japanese prints, fine press editions, literary portraits and autograph manuscripts. A devout disciple of John Ruskin and William Morris - he enriched the British collections with many works by the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers. Many drawings and watercolours were also acquired during this time.

Throughout Cockerell's directorship, sustained financial support from the Friends, which he had founded in 1909, was crucial to his success. Relentless to the end, he continued to recruit a steady flow of wealthy subscribers - including British aristocrats, American businessmen and members of the royal family. By the time he retired in 1937, the Friends had given the Museum a sum equivalent to more than £417,000 in today's money.

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Gallery

click on images below for information about each exhibit

Image["Red figure eye cup"]

Red figure eye cup by Nikosthene painter
Athenian, c.500BC

Image["Fragment of secular cup"]

Fragment of a gold secular cup
Germany, early 13th century

Image["Chinese ridge tile"]

Chinese ridge tile
Ming Dynasty (c.1368-1644)

Image["William Blake, Death on a Pale Horse"]

William Blake
Death on a Pale Horse
c.1800

Image["Book of the Dead of Ramose"]

Book of the Dead of Ramose
Egypt, New Kingdom
Vignette from Spell 95, for being in the presence of Thoth

Image["J.M.W. Turner, Heidelberg"]

J.M.W. Turner Heidelberg
c.1841-4

Image["Burne-Jones, preliminary sketch for Works of Chaucer"]

Edward Burne-Jones, preliminary sketch for The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
c.1892

Image["Master Honore, La Somme le roi"]

Master Honoré: Leaf from a copy of La Somme le roi
c.1300

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Image["The Fitzwilliam Museum"]