Exhibitions
Making a Nation: Money, image and power in Tudor and Stuart England
The major dynastic, political and cultural changes that occurred in England under the Tudors and Stuarts are traced in this exhibition. The money and medals of this 250-year period provide a fascinating insight into broader developments in artistic expression, monarchy, nationhood, and trade in a rapidly expanding world.
26/03/2019 to 30/06/2019
Free
Fans Unfolded: Conserving the Lennox-Boyd collection
Showcasing rare and exquisitely decorated fans from the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015, this display reveals the techniques behind the making, investigation and conservation of fans.
05/03/2019 to 12/01/2020
Free
Beggarstaffs: William Nicholson & James Pryde
***** The Observer
'Beggarstaffs' was the pseudonym used by the British artists William Nicholson and James Pryde for their collaborative partnership in the design of posters and other graphic work in the 1890s. This groundbreaking exhibition of collaborative graphics and their later individual works as painters have never before been shown together.
07/05/2019 to 04/08/2019
Free
Palaces in the Night: The urban landscape in Whistler’s prints
This second exhibition of the Fitzwilliam’s collection of etchings, drypoints and lithographs, by the American artist James McNeill Whistler, is devoted to the cityscapes for which he is most celebrated as a printmaker.
04/06/2019 to 08/09/2019
Free
Displays
The Frua-Valsecchi collection
Over the past fifty years, Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi have built up a remarkable collection of paintings, furniture, sculpture, glass and ceramics. This includes the renowned nude portrait of Patricia Preece by Stanley Spencer (Gallery 1), a Spanish 17th century polychrome wood sculpture of the Christ Child (Gallery 6), Art Nouveau Tiffany glass (Gallery 22) and an extremely rare Meissen porcelain vulture (Gallery 27)...
01/08/2016 to 30/12/2019
Free
The 1920s: Crisis and innovation
The 1920s was a time of unprecedented change, after the trauma of the First World War. In America and Western Europe there was great prosperity and artistic innovation, with the new Art Deco style. At the same time there was economic and political crisis in Germany and Central Europe. In Russia the new dawn of Revolution led to Stalin’s terror. All of this can be seen in coins, medals and banknotes of the 1920s.
29/01/2019 to 30/06/2019
Free
Salisbury Family Collection of Studio Ceramics
The Salisbury family, based locally in Cambridge, have kindly lent part of their studio ceramics collection to the Museum. This collection, formed over many years, includes pieces by some of the finest artists to work in clay from the mid-20th century onwards. These include Austrian and German emigrés Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth, and contemporary artist Jennifer Lee, winner of the Loewe Craft Prize 2018.
25/09/2018 to 30/10/2019
Free
Eddington's prehistoric and Roman past
A single display case containing a small selection of items found by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) at the North West Cambridge site, now renamed Eddington. The display includes the single most important find to date, a tightly rolled 12-13th century pewter or lead seal, which when unravelled revealed a king with a fleur de lis-topped sceptre.
28/01/2019 to 08/07/2019
Secrets of a Silent Miniaturist
A selection of the Museum’s Isaac Oliver miniatures (c.1565-1617) have been chosen to showcase some of the recent discoveries made about his work. The miniatures can be seen in a special display in the Rothschild Gallery of Medieval & Renaissance Art (Gallery 32), where they are shown alongside other 16th- and 17th-century miniatures, including examples by Nicholas Hilliard.
05/02/2019 to 18/08/2019
Free
Jennifer Lee: A personal selection
This small display brings together objects from the Fitzwilliam’s collection that particularly resonate with the award-winning artist and potter, Jennifer Lee. Her choice includes modern studio ceramics, ancient Chinese bronzes and antiquities from Greece and Rome, with each object accompanied by an explanation of the affinity she feels with it. This display accompanies the larger exhibition of Jennifer’s own work, Jennifer Lee: the potter’s space on display at Kettle’s Yard (9 July-22 September).
11/06/2019 to 22/09/2019
Free
