The Museum’s founder, Lord Fitzwilliam, was an enthusiastic collector of prints. In his lifetime he amassed around 40,000 loose impressions and devoted significant time and energy arranging them into albums of varying sizes to keep on the shelves of his library. His collection reflects his broad taste, ranging from etchings by Rembrandt to works by other highly skilled but less fashionable printmakers. This exhibition looks at what interested Fitzwilliam most in acquiring and ordering his print collection and will feature examples of his albums, rarely seen in public but offering a fascinating insight into the mind of a late 18th century collector.
Until 29th January 2017.
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, William Burges’s painted ‘Flax and Wool’ cabinet, a Spanish 17th century polychrome wood sculpture of the Christ Child, Art Nouveau Tiffany glass, metalwork and ceramics designed by Christopher Dresser and an extremely rare Meissen porcelain vulture.
These artworks have generously been offered to the Fitzwilliam Museum on long-term loan and the next few months will see over 130 pieces gradually being introduced throughout the galleries. The objects will be displayed throughout the Museum to create intriguing and witty juxtapositions and ‘conversations’, as the works were seen in the Valsecchi’s private home. They can be identified in the galleries by their specially designed labels

Small vase with heart-shaped leaves. Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848-1933). Glass.
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