Special No 18
Monday 2 August 2010
Vol cxl
pp. 1–16
The Fitzwilliam Museum broke many records in 2008–09, with more and higher profile exhibitions attracting more visits, national and international press coverage, sponsorship, events and earned income than before, and a wide range of partnerships and projects extending the Museum’s reach into the local community, as well as regionally, nationally and internationally. The Museum continues to be a natural focus for the University’s commitment to widening participation in higher education and increasing public access to, and engagement with, the University and to Higher Education generally through the promotion of lifelong learning and social cohesion. This was clearly demonstrated by the Museum’s prominent role in the University’s first Festival of Ideas, the Darwin Festival and the 800th anniversary celebrations.
The task of running a major museum within a University provides opportunities and poses distinctive challenges. Staff of the Museum have carried out research which informs exhibitions, catalogues and other aspects of the interpretation of the collections. They have taken part in teaching in the University, reaching some 894 undergraduates in 69 classes during the year. Curators are engaged with their colleagues in academic departments across the University, bringing a knowledge of visual and material culture to a range of disciplines from the History of Art, Classics, Oriental Studies, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, to English, Theology, History and Materials Science and Metallurgy.
The principal exhibition of the year, Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, had an unprecedented reach across the University and beyond, giving rise to new ways of thinking about Darwin and his impact on the arts and science in the 19th century. This very significant research achievement was acknowledged in being declared international ‘exhibition of the year’ by Apollo Magazine and other publications. Many members of the University, regardless of their disciplines, will have enjoyed exhibitions such as From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Tomb Treasures of Ancient Georgia, while the Museum’s first Sculpture Promenade attracted new audiences into the Museum and proved a particular hit with students and young people. ‘I turned it into a Palace’: Sir Sydney Cockerell and the Fitzwilliam Museum was a reminder of the impact a visionary director can have on a museum, and provided the catalyst to the acquisition for the University of the annotated proofs of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. The exhibition Kachōfūgetsu: The Natural World in Japanese Prints, though smaller, was the basis for an interactive and on-line exhibit which brings to life the illustrations and poems of the 18th century Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro and is proving to be an unrivalled resource for researchers.
Once again the Museum has relied on funding from a wide range of external sources. The University’s core allocation (£2,689,000) included the Higher Education Funding Council’s museum grant (£1,237,000) in respect of core costs and service to the public. In addition the University continued to cover the cost of planned building maintenance, heat, light and water (approximately £1 million). For the first year, the Museum was operating on a fully devolved budget, giving a greater degree of flexibility as well as increased responsibility for fund raising for key positions, to enhance the permanent displays, mount stimulating exhibitions, and maintain the programme of outreach.
The Museum’s participation as a partner in the East of England Museum Hub under Renaissance in the Regions, funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in the amount of £740,000, underpinned collections information, electronic services and education programmes, and strengthened our capacity to engage wider audiences and assist other museums in the University and the Region. Cambridge City Council continued modest support (£14,000) for weekend opening.
The loyal support of the Friends of the Museum is appreciated, and they marked their centenary with a number of generous gifts. This has been augmented by The Marlay Group, a growing group of patrons, who through subscriptions and gifts are supporting a variety of essential work from the purchase of furniture to funding for exhibitions and small cataloguing projects. Over £2 million has been raised from earned income and other external sources, including £1.7 million in sponsorship and donations from over 110 companies, foundations and individuals.
Fitzwilliam Museum Enterprises expanded into running the new shop for the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, and for the first time saw its turnover exceed £1 million. Its contribution to the Museum in rent and loan interest was £99,000.
2008–09 was also a year of funding reviews, with HEFCE embarking on a review of its University Museum and Gallery funding stream, and the publication of an independent review of the first four years of MLA’s Renaissance in the Regions funding programme. For the future, uncertainty over future levels of public funding remains a serious concern, with the outcome of the HEFCE review as yet unknown and the prospect of unprecedented cuts in university and museum funding in the forthcoming government budget and spending review. In particular, it should be noted how MLA Renaissance investment has supported the Museum’s development in recent years, funding 22 posts across all areas of museum activity including finance, personnel, collections documentation, education and marketing. The uncertainty over the future of the Renaissance programme combined with the prospect of reductions in other funding streams represents a key risk to be managed in the coming year.
The Central Services Division encompasses all the Museum’s public and central services. Activities range from education, marketing, access and visitor services to finance, HR, facilities management and security.
The Museum was open to the public on 312 days (2,074 hours) and 334,282 visits were recorded. During the year a record 55 evening events were held involving 8,553 guests. There was a total of 31,399 educational visits, of which 4,667 were made by HE and FE students and 26,732 were made by young people in school groups. Meanwhile the Museum website recorded 33 million hits, which converted to over one million visits or an average of nearly 3,150 visits a day. 83 public talks and lectures took place, attended by 4,736 people.
With support from Renaissance in the Regions in 2008–09, 14,076 pupils took part in 803 education sessions led by Museum education staff, and a similar number of school children and young people visited the museum in school groups led by their teachers. Sessions taught by the Museum’s education staff were for primary and secondary students, as well as young people attending Pupil Referral Units. In addition to offering a menu of sessions linking the collections to the curriculum, sessions were tailored to suit the needs of particular classes and schools. In October 2008, the Museum was chosen as one of four galleries nationally to take part in the Great Art Quest, a project co-ordinated and funded by the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, which introduced eight classes of local children in non-attending schools to visual art and story telling. In Summer 2009, the Museum was the first in the eastern region to be awarded a Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge, a DCMS national accreditation scheme for organisations offering school visits.
In 2009, the Museum worked with Cambridgeshire County Council on Engaging Young Minds, a cross-sectoral initiative to promote the use of the Fitzwilliam and other University Museums and the opportunities they offer to engage young minds in object-based learning programmes outside the classroom.
In Spring 2009, the education department launched ‘FitzNews’, a termly newsletter for teachers, and in Summer 2009, the education pages of the website were comprehensively updated and new resources were added.
The Museum and the University’s Faculty of Education were partners in an Initial Teacher Training pilot project – Real Teaching – which gave groups of trainee teachers 5 days in the Museum as part of their professional placement. The pilot was funded by the Teacher Development Agency, and involved four museum services and teacher training providers in the eastern region. The experience gained in the Museum had a very positive impact on the development of the trainee teachers’ skills and confidence, and this work has now been mainstreamed.
During the course of the year, the Museum also hosted over 20 INSET courses for schools across Cambridgeshire, and began working with a group of primary school head teachers who are developing ‘The Cambridge Curriculum’, based on resources in Cambridge.
The Education department hosted many visits and placements. These included a research visit from the education team at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, who were looking at the Fitzwilliam as a model for their new facilities, and a 4 week placement by Dr Saba Al Omari, Curator of the Cultural Museum of Mosul in Iraq, who was on a British Council visit to look at best practice in UK museum education work.
For many young people in Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas, a visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum whether with their school or independently, will be their first engagement with a Higher Education Institution. In all its work with schools, teachers, young people and their families, the Museum strives to raise aspirations and to promote participation in HE as an achievable and desirable option. In 2008–09, Art in Action, now in its third year, introduced 460 children and their teachers from six primary schools in areas of high socio-economic deprivation and geographical isolation to the Museum. An evaluation report was published, showing how this project played a role in raising educational achievements and aspirations. The Museum collaborated with Cambridge University Admissions Office on programmes to bring young people to the Museum as part of their ‘Aim Higher’ programme which targets students with academic potential but also with barriers to overcome, and worked directly with other HE Summer Schools and Gifted and Talented programmes. ‘Source’ continued to offer one-to-one advice and practical support to students preparing for GCSE and AS/A level Art and Design exams, and is now a well established part of the Museum’s programme. ‘Verve’ was launched in Autumn 2008 offering young people the opportunity to programme and co-ordinate late openings and other events at the Museum for their peers. Two Verve events took place in 2008–09, attracting over 300 young people. Verve and Source have both been supported by the Eridge Trust. Fitz Soc Ambassadors was launched in Spring 2009, engaging members of the Fitzwilliam Museum Society (a Cambridge University student society) to act as mentors and ambassadors for schools and colleges who do not yet use the Museum’s Education Service. Students and tutors of illustration and animation from Anglia Ruskin University were involved in developing and running activities and workshops for the Big Draw, Verve and Fitz Family First Saturdays, giving the Museum invaluable creative input, and providing the students with direct experience of working in museum education. Several of the Museum’s staff became Arts Award trainers, so that the Museum can now offer young people the opportunity to gain credits towards their Bronze and Silver Arts Awards.
In 2008–09, the Museum offered 83 events for adults, ranging from lunchtime talks and concerts to workshops, seminars and drop in sessions. Many of the talks and lectures were given by University staff and museum curators, and offered opportunities for the general public to engage with the latest research. The Museum’s experience in engaging with the wider community makes it a natural lead partner in the University’s main public engagement initiatives. In October 2008 the Museum played a lead role in the University’s first Festival of Ideas, and it continued to make a significant contribution to the Science Festival, Open Cambridge and Black History Month. The Museum also worked closely with the WEA, U3A, the Open University and the University’s Institute of Continuing Education. In the last year, the Museum has also piloted online lifelong learning initiatives including an online book group, a series of 16 podcasts by the world’s pre-eminent Darwin scholars and a Flickr group, all linked to the exhibition Endless Forms.
Since 2003, Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, Curator of the Egyptian Collection, has taken her knowledge of ancient Egypt into prisons, supporting diversity, education and Black History Month activities in 15 HM Prisons. Dr Ashton was awarded one of the first AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowships (2007) for this work. In partnership with two prison education departments, Arts for Everyone (A4E) and City College Manchester, she developed and taught African-centred Egyptology and black history for literacy, numeracy, skills for life, social and life skills and art, presenting 212 sessions to 1,211 prisoners and 167 prison staff. This work has formed the basis for an AQA unit on African Centred Egyptology, which will enable an accredited course to be taught in all prisons and will continue as part of Dr Ashton’s outreach work.
The Education Department organised 57 drop-in sessions and family events attracting 2,977 people. These events included a specially commissioned theatre piece and related workshop by award-winning theatre company ‘Indefinite Articles’, based on the Museum’s Chinese Collection. With other museums, including the Botanic Garden, the Museum of Classical Archaeology and the Museum of Zoology, it arranged events for the national Big Draw, the Festival of Ideas, Cambridge Science Festival, Twilight at the Museums, and the University’s 800th Garden Party in July. The Education Department also worked with the University Museum Development Officer to participate in the highly successful University Museum Collectors Cards Project. It ran monthly sessions for pre-school children including practical sessions in the studio. Upgraded ‘Fitz Kits’ activity boxes and trails were produced and were in constant use by families making independent visits. Special Fitz Kits boxes were produced for the Darwin and Golden Fleece exhibitions.
In the Summer of 2009, the Museum launched Fitz Family First Saturdays aimed at families visiting with their children for the first time, offering a range of resources and drop-in activities to help families with children of all ages explore the Museum together and get the most out of their visit.
Since October 2008, the Museum has been working with young parents and carers and their children from Romsey Mill, a deprived estate on the edge of Cambridge, using museum visits and creative workshops to improve confidence and skills. Dr Eric Jensen, a social scientist from Anglia Ruskin University, has been working with the Museum on a pilot research project to evaluate the social impact of this programme and develop a methodology for future social impact studies of this kind. The Museum has also been working with looked-after children, providing regular sessions for children and young people in foster care including those in the University’s widening participation scheme.
Once again over 10,000 language school students attended the museum during the year, and have made further use of worksheets and notes developed to link in with their English language learning levels and to engage the students with the collections, ensuring better behaviour.
The Outreach and Access Officer worked with over 1,000 people during the year, and continued to develop partnerships with a wide range of organisations in the city and beyond, offering regular sessions for clients, patients and residents both at the museums and in their settings. These have included the Alex Wood Day Centre, Cambridgeshire Race, Equality and Diversity Service, the Phoenix Centre for Eating Disorders, Wallace Cancer Care, Arts and Minds, Arbury Community Centre, Burwell Day Centre, Hilltop Day Centre, North Essex Mental Health Network, HMP Highpoint, Buchan Street and Akeman Street Community Centres, the Learning Disability Partnership, English Churches Housing Group, Romsey Mill Young Parents Group, Kneesworth House Hospital, Addenbrooke’s, Fulbourn Hospital, Storey’s House, The Alzheimer’s Society and Cambridge City Council. People suffering from cancer and schizophrenia, frail elderly people, people with a history of mental illness, those in hostel accommodation and local residents have all been engaged through this programme. The partnership with Arts and Minds included an exhibition in the Courtyard as part of the Festival of Ideas 2008. Tactile resources were developed for the exhibition From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Tomb Treasures from Ancient Georgia. In January 2009, the Outreach and Access Officer, Gill Hart, was selected for a place on the Clore Leadership Programme. She has continued her work at the Museum on a part-time, job-share basis.
Once again we are indebted to Penny Robson for her organisation of an excellent programme of 24 Sunday Promenade concerts, many given by instrumental award holders, managed by volunteers and all attracting audiences of over 100 people. In addition, Gerald Gifford, Honorary Keeper of Music, gave 4 recitals and a Christmas concert devised by Christopher Brown, attracting an audience of 170 people.
Renaissance funding allows the Fitzwilliam to support the Museums Development Officer, Liz Hide, whose role supports the development of all aspects of the work of the seven other University Museums, through joint initiatives, advocacy, the promotion of skill and resource sharing and improvements in communications between the museums. With a modest budget to support learning and outreach activities, enhanced by a grant from the University’s 2009 fund, she facilitated a collaborative programme of events and activities including The Big Draw, Twilight at the Museums, Cambridge Museums Fair, Cambridge Collectors Cards and a University Museums presence at the City Council’s Big Weekend and the 2009 University Staff Garden Party. As a result, the University’s museums were able to make a substantial and high-profile contribution to the University’s 800th year celebrations. She also supported activities in individual museums, from intensive projects engaging small ‘hard to reach’ groups such as the Young Carers’ Art Group, to larger events like Twilight at the Museums, where up to 4,000 people visited the museums during a single evening. Just over 20,000 people took part in these activities during 2008–09, with at least half visiting one or more of the museums for the first time. The success of these activities demonstrates the benefit of sharing staff and improving communication.
Participation in the East of England Museum Hub (with Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service (lead), Colchester and Ipswich Museums and Museums Luton) was an important aspect of the Museum’s activity throughout the year, as evidenced in this Report. The scheme is designed to increase and sustain participation in museums by an ever-widening range of people. It supports learning programmes for all ages; improvements to access to and use of collections, better collections development, care and interpretation; workforce development; and the effective use of resources through the development of partnerships.
Work continued on the delivery of programmes agreed under the 2007–09 funding agreement, while the Hub and participating museums awaited details of the funding agreement for 2009–11, pending the outcome of a national review of Renaissance in the Regions, which was published in early 2009. Although very positive about the impact of Renaissance, the review’s criticisms of MLA’s management of the scheme led to substantial changes in administration and performance management, and a lengthy process to agree funding for projects. In May 2009, funding of £1.464 million for 2009–11 was confirmed by MLA for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Renaissance programme, supporting 24 full and part-time staff working on the following programme areas: audience development, learning and education, community engagement, collections care, collections revitalisation, workforce development, workforce diversity, sustainability, partnerships, systems development and museum development. From 1 April 2009, the funding became payable in arrears on completion of quarterly financial and activity reports.
The Museum played a significant role in the launch in February 2009 and subsequent development and delivery of SHARE, a Renaissance East of England scheme to provide reciprocal assistance, advice and training to the wider museum community, drawing on the expertise and skills of the larger Hub and other museums.
The Museum also played a leading role in shaping plans for Eastern Exchanges, the Renaissance East’s programme of exhibitions and events for Stories of the World, MLA’s contribution to the Cultural Olympiad.
The Fitzwilliam and other University Museums also contributed significantly to advocacy for Renaissance, providing case studies, evaluation reports and other evidence of the impact of Renaissance funding in the region.
Margaret Greeves, who retired from her role as Assistant Director, Central Services in October 2008, took up the role of Director of Renaissance Projects, a temporary part-time role ending in December 2010 to steer the Museum through changes to Renaissance.
The Marketing and Press Office develops and maintains the Museum’s public profile, and supports and promotes its public programmes and other areas of its work. During 2008–09, marketing and press work covered 17 temporary exhibitions, including From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Tomb Treasures of Ancient Georgia, the first Sculpture Promenade and Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, as well as several acquisitions, conservation matters and the Museum’s education and events programmes. This activity resulted in over 450 items of press coverage spanning international and national newspapers, regional press, heritage, culture and lifestyle periodicals and specialist journals, as well as on-line coverage, broadcast interviews and regional television and radio. Development of the Museum’s web news feeds ensured that online arts listings were kept up to date. A major focus of the year was the preparation and execution of the very successful media campaign for the exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, which was selected as exhibition of the year by the Daily Telegraph, Apollo Magazine and History Today, and shortlisted for a national Museums and Heritage Award for marketing campaign of the year.
In October 2009, the Marketing and Press team was joined by a full time designer, and together the team worked on design and content for all the Museum’s print, web and e-marketing campaigns. In addition to producing three editions a year of the Museum’s ‘What’s On’ programme, monthly editions of eNews, regular exhibition and event updates to the website and micro-sites for all the major exhibitions, the team also produced promotional flyers, leaflets, posters and postcards for events and exhibitions, and worked together on a major marketing campaign for Endless Forms, which included London underground posters, First Capital Connect train cards and portico banners.
The Marketing and Press Office played a leading role in promoting and coordinating the Museum’s work with the University and other local and regional museums: working in partnership with them on the ‘Big Day Out’ event on Parker’s Piece, Freshers’ Fair, the first ‘Festival of Ideas’ (October 2008), Cambridge Science Festival, Open Cambridge and the Darwin Festival.
During 2008–09, the Museum greatly extended its use of podcasts to engage people with exhibitions and events. Podcasts were produced for all the major exhibitions, and were a major feature of the online offer for Endless Forms, with over 20 leading Darwin experts contributing interviews to the 17 podcasts produced for that exhibition alone. These podcasts continue to appear on iTunes, iTunesU and on the Museum’s website.
The Museum also extended its use of social media, launching a Facebook site, and piloting a Twitter presence and Flickr group for Endless Forms. The Museum also worked closely with the Renaissance East of England Communications Group to generate stories and profile for Renaissance projects via the Renaissance East website and publications.
By the end of 2008–09, approximately 5,000 objects had been added to the Adlib central collections database, bringing the total to 166,041, and there was a similar increase to the number of records in the online public access catalogue (OPAC), bringing the total to 155,427. There was a particular focus on increasing the images available online, with some 8,000 images added to the OPAC, bringing the total to 127,774, increasing the number of objects illustrated by over 5,000, bringing the total number of objects accompanied by images to 68,310.
The Digivey visitor survey terminal is now being used to gather data on an ongoing basis, and uptake continues to be very good. Digivey is a Renaissance initiative.
The Hidden Histories/Sources of Inspiration area of the Fitzwilliam website was developed. Funded as part of the MLA/Renaissance Designation Challenge Fund programme (2006–08), the project explores the stories behind some of the names and faces connected with objects in the Museum’s collection. This has now been expanded to allow visitors to add their own stories about objects.
Thanks to the addition of new content and micro sites, and to a much higher profile exhibition programme, website use has increased to an average of nearly 3,150 visits per day, from 2,750 in 2007–08. The following online exhibitions were added in the year: Whistler Prints; From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Tomb Treasures of Ancient Georgia; ‘I turned it into a Palace’: Sir Sydney Cockerell and the Fitzwilliam Museum; The Fitzwilliam Museum: A Source of Inspiration; Anthony Van Dyck; Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan; The Utamaro Books Interactive; Anglo-Saxon Art in the Round; A Century of Giving; The Sculpture Promenade 2009 and Endless Forms, Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts. The Cockerell online resource includes a link to a richly illustrated interactive describing the conservation of the Macclesfield Psalter, the second in the Museum’s Conserving Art series. A Century of Giving, which highlights a selection of objects acquired by the Museum over the last 100 years with the support of the Friends, was part of a new area of the website for the Friends, launched for their centenary year.
The interactive floorplan and gallery guide for the Fitzwilliam website was launched, providing a printable floor plan and a short introduction to each of the gallery spaces together with a brief history of the architecture and displays.
A website survey was undertaken from January to March 2009. Over 200 responses were received. The feedback from the website was positive, showing that users appreciated its clarity and ease of use. Around 25% were using the site primarily for research, teaching and learning purposes.
Exhibition audio guides were developed for the Golden Fleece, Cockerell and Darwin exhibitions and loaded onto the eGuides. The Darwin audio guide was also made available to download from the website.
In 2008–09, a review of the Photography Department was undertaken, following the earlier resignation of the two members of the photo sales team and in preparation of the retirement of the Head of Photographic Services in August 2009. The aim of the review was to complete the transition of the Photo Studio and Image Library to a fully digital service, and to prepare the Museum for a new Image Management Strategy. Lynda Clark, formerly of Tate Images, was recruited to the post of Image Library Manager and the posts of Image Library Assistant and Chief Photographer were advertised. At the start of 2009–10, Mike Jones, formerly Renaissance Documentation Photographer, was appointed Chief Photographer, Emma Darbyshire was appointed Image Sales Assistant, Amy Tufts was appointed Renaissance Documentation Photographer and Andrew Norman remained in post as Senior Photographer. The Image Library and Photographic Service are increasingly important to the Museum’s work. In 2008–09, image sales generated enough income to cover the cost of the Head of Photographic Services’ post.
Two major imaging projects for collections catalogues were completed during the year: the Catalogueof Italian Drawings by David Scrase (CUP, 2010) and The Immortal Stone: Chinese jades from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century by James Lin (Scala, 2009). Photography for a catalogue of the Museum’s English Delftware was also continued. Other major projects included the photography for the catalogue for the Cockerell exhibition and the continuation of work on the series of catalogues on the Cambridge illuminated manuscripts. Photography and digital images were also provided for exhibition catalogues, media campaigns and online exhibition for all the exhibitions and for the University’s 800th anniversary publications.
The roll-out of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), the University-wide Telecoms project, was completed by Spring 2009, and the book store in the basement was converted to a second server room. A rolling programme of infrastructure upgrades was continued, supported by the first of a three year equipment fund allocation from the University. Other aspects of IT and web development have been supported by Renaissance. The IT team continues to advise, support and work on all ICT aspects of museum projects. As with other departments, 2008–09 has seen not only an increase in web related projects such as Hidden Histories, it has also seen intense activity relating to exhibitions and related online initiatives. The IT team has played an important role in the development of virtual exhibitions, podcasts and Web 2.0 initiatives, including the Endless Forms FlickR site and screens in the Courtyard, downloadable audio guides, podcasts, Facebook and Twitter. Together with the Documentation and Access Manager and Director, Renaissance Projects, the IT team also worked on the development of the initial stage of an Information Management Strategy in support of the Museum’s strategic plan.
The Museum embarked on Investors in People (IIP) in November 2008, completing its initial assessment in January 2009. The assessment identified communication and management training as being the two biggest issues facing the museum. This has resulted in the development of an Internal Communications Plan and a programme of management training. 90% of staff had an individual review in 2008–09, and reviews were specifically linked to staff development and training programmes. This resulted in a further increase in requests for training and development and growing numbers of staff undertaking the various sessions offered. Weekly ‘bite-size’ sessions and half-day and day long training sessions have been offered on a wide range of topics such as Access, Equality and Diversity, Managing Staff Performance, Pest Management, Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Others. These were well attended by Fitzwilliam Museum staff, and most were also attended by staff of other Cambridge museums. Three members of the visitor services and security staff undertook NVQs.
Staff retention remained stable with turnover at 5% in 2009 (5% in 2008). Sickness absence continues to be carefully monitored and managed, and is now supported by the introduction of central University procedures and reporting mechanisms. The Museum adopted a Diversity and Equality Policy and action plan and appointed six Diversity Champions.
The Personnel and Workforce Development Officer took part in a University wide Induction working party, and has reviewed induction processes and materials offered by the Museum.
In May 2009, the Museum ran a pilot Work Experience Taster Day, co-ordinated by the Young Museum Advocates group and funded by Cambridgeshire County Council. The pilot was successful and the Museum now runs two taster days a year, offering up to 40 young people a year an introduction to the range of careers involved in museum work. In addition, 13 young people took part in one and two week-long work experience placements.
Agreement was reached with staff and Unison over the implementation of a reduced working week (36.5 hours).
The Museum appointed Allison Kingsbury to the post of Facilities Manager in January 2009. Allison has worked with colleagues in the University’s Estate Management Division to begin the implementation of a major planned programme of maintenance and refurbishment work, identified in an Estate Management report in 2007–08. This report identified the need for work on historic fabric of the portico, the portico lantern, the railings outside the Museum and to the roof and domes to Gallery III. This work will depend on funding from the University.
Following office moves to accommodate the re-arrangement of Grove Lodge as the Director’s residence, the extensive works to re-wire, refurbish and redecorate the flat were completed in December 2009. A new temporary workspace was created above the Education offices in 22 Trumpington Street for a project conservator working on printed books, and a programme of modest refurbishment and redecoration of offices more generally was initiated.
Significant improvements to temperature and humidity control resulted from the replacement of the chiller serving the Mellon Gallery, which had not functioned properly since its installation during the Courtyard project. Maintaining a suitable environment for works of art in old, grade 1 listed buildings remains a challenge, and conditions in the Courtauld, Dutch, Spanish and Octagon Galleries have been identified as needing urgent attention. In 2008–09, the University’s Resource Management Committee confirmed the allocation of £477,000 CIF equipment funding towards the cost of replacement equipment, although final confirmation of approval for this work is pending.
A new regime for keeping the Café waste pipes clear of blockages was put in place, and is working well. The work to create a second IT server room in the basement of the museum was completed, following a comprehensive asbestos survey. Asbestos was safely removed from areas of the basement and from the Greek and Roman Gallery. The Courtyard doors, which had been faulty since mid-2008, were replaced, as were the mechanisms controlling the shutters in the Courtyard. The cause of long-standing problems with the drains under the Courtyard was finally identified and resolved. Repairs to the goods and Courtyard lifts were undertaken, and the installation of roller racking for prints and drawing storage was completed.
A review of storage use and needs at the Museum and at the Hamilton Kerr Institute (HKI) was initiated, with a view to the Museum being able to relinquish its paid off-site storage at Girton and Stowe by the end of 2009–10. Work to clear the Sidgwick store began in preparation for essential maintenance work to be carried out by Estates Division in 2009–10.
A full asbestos survey of the HKI was undertaken, and the custodian’s house was re-wired.
Planning permission was sought and obtained for the Sculpture Promenade 2009, for the Darwin exhibition banners on the Portico, for exhibition banner flagpoles and for the exhibition hoardings on the railings.
The Greek and Roman Gallery was cleared in the Autumn of 2008 and work commenced on this major refurbishment project in early 2009, which was completed on schedule at the end of 2009. Costings and a scope of works were prepared for the refurbishment of Galleries I and V following confirmation of funding from an external donor.
The Greek and Roman Galleries were emptied in anticipation of their renovation and a corridor walk-way was constructed through them. Cyprus was closed for the storage of Greek and Roman items so only the Egyptian, Lower Antiquities Gallery and Near Eastern Corridor were available to the public. Opportunity was taken to examine carefully and conserve a large number of items for the projected new displays. The redisplay of the Greek and Roman gallery, led by Dr Lucilla Burn, involved a team that included collaborators from the University’s Faculty of Classics. This is the first such collaborative redisplay project at the Fitzwilliam Museum and the opportunities it provides should prove both stimulating and fruitful.
Otherwise, exhibitions were the main focus for the division during the course of this year. From the Land of the Golden Fleece which took place in both the Adeane and Twentieth Century Galleries gave a rare chance to see treasures from Ancient Georgia. This was organised by the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York and the Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi. The venue in Cambridge was the only one in Britain and it was supported by the Leon Levy Foundation. So rare an opportunity to examine magnificent gold and silver jewellery, sculpture and funerary items dating from the 5th to 1st centuries bc excavated from sanctuaries and tombs at Vani in the ancient kingdom of Colchis (most famous as the home of the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology and now part of the republic of Georgia) drew large numbers of visitors. The installation was supervised by the Director with particular help from Helen Strudwick. It was complemented by an exhibition in the Octagon, Bordering the Black Sea, Greeks, ‘Barbarians’ and their coins, devised by Dr Adi Popescu.
2008 was the centenary of the beginning of Sir Sydney Cockerell’s directorship of the Museum. This was celebrated by an inter-departmental exhibition organised by Dr Stella Panayotova in the Mellon Gallery, taking its title from Cockerell’s famous dictum: ‘I found it a pig-stye: I turned it into a palace’. It celebrated one of the most enriching periods in the museum’s history: Sir Sydney’s directorship (1908–1937). In particular it examined Cockerell’s close relationship with leading artists, writers and collectors of the period, including John Ruskin, William Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites, Thomas Hardy and Bernard Shaw. It also examined Cockerell’s enormous impact on museum design and display in the early twentieth century. It brought together for the first time many of his most spectacular acquisitions including works by William Blake, William Morris’ Kelmscott Press books, Keats’ autograph manuscript of the Ode to a Nightingale and superbly illuminated medieval manuscripts as well as prime examples of antiquities and drawings from the collection of Ricketts and Shannon and important Chinese, Syrian and Japanese works of art. Many of the exceptional works on display, including the Macclesfield Psalter, were acquired with the support of the Friends of the Fitzwilliam, founded by Cockerell in 1909. The exhibition continued into 2009 so acted as a celebration of the Friends’ centenary as well as Cockerell’s.
The largest and most successful exhibition the Museum has held, Endless Forms, explored for the first time the relationship between Charles Darwin’s revolutionary theories and late 19th century art. The exhibition made use of new research, opening out to study a subject little treated in prior intellectual debate. It has been widely recognised by peers, press and visitors across the disciplines as being pioneering and making a major contribution to scholarship in the field. Its significance was acknowledged by being thrice acclaimed ‘Exhibition of the Year’ (Daily Telegraph, Apollo Magazine, History Today). The project centred on a major international, interdisciplinary, exhibition which investigated Darwin’s response to the visual arts and the impact of his ideas on visual artists of the 19th century. Using the exhibition as a catalyst, it developed themes treated in the exhibition in a range of stimulating and innovative ways that emphasised the continuing relevance of Darwin’s theoretical legacies to 21st century audiences. These initiatives included the exhibition catalogue, website, a virtual exhibition, Flickr photo group, audioguide, podcasts by leading scientists, historians and others, programmes of talks and lectures, workshops, and other events, many of which will ensure the exhibition a continuing legacy and impact. It was also the first time that the Museum had a Twitter site, which proved extremely popular. The exhibition was organised by the Fitzwilliam Museum in association with the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, and curated by Jane Munro and Professor Diana Donald, with the assistance of Dr Nicola Gauld. The exhibition was shown first in New Haven. At the Fitzwilliam it occupied five galleries, the Shiba, Adeane, Mellon, Twentieth Century and Octagon. Juxtaposing works of art with a variety of scientific material, this was a truly multi-disciplinary project.
Outside the Museum was featured the first of a series of Sculpture promenades. At the Director’s initiative, together with Helaine Blumenfeld, Vice-President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, contemporary sculptures by members of this prestigious society were installed at strategic positions on the Museum’s lawns. The exhibition was shown for nine months and received considerable attention. It succeeded in its aim of rousing the passer-by’s curiosity and our monitoring of visitors showed that several who had never previously entered the Museum were sufficiently intrigued by the Sculpture promenade to extend their visit from the lawns to the Museum itself.
The smaller exhibitions in the Charrington Print Room, Shiba and Octagon Galleries require no less research and hard work to put on. As the Museum’s capacity for IT continues to grow, increasing use is made of technology to create virtual exhibitions, pod-casts and there are often booklets produced to coincide with these displays. Outstanding use was made of the virtual exhibition by Craig Hartley as an accompaniment to his exhibition of the natural world in Japanese prints: Kachōfūgetsu. The centrepiece of the exhibition was the remarkable trio of books designed by Kitagawa Utamaro (c.1756–1806) on natural themes, known popularly as the Insect Book, Shell Book and Bird Book. These are generally considered among the masterpieces of book design and printing. The special virtual display included a newly commissioned translation of the text of the Shell Book by John Carpenter (SOAS and Sainsbury Institute for Japanese Arts and Cultures) together with translations he had already made of the other books. Andrew Morris, our chief photographer, took detailed images of the embossing and of metallic printing which were miraculously brought to life at the touch of the screen. The viewer was able to turn the pages on a screen set up outside the Shiba Gallery and thus could experience the whole book rather than the single page on public exhibition. This remains on the Museum web-site as does the virtual exhibition created by Elenor Ling to coincide with the exhibition in the Charrington Print Room, Changing Faces: Anthony van Dyck as an Etcher. This enables scrutiny and comparison of different states of 16 of Van Dyck’s portrait etchings for his Iconography. Earlier in the year the second exhibition of prints by James McNeill Whistler, Palaces in the Night, included on display for the first time two splendid Venetian etchings acquired with the help of the Art Fund and the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund. The exhibition also was celebrated with a virtual exhibition of our Whistler prints, including those which had been displayed in the exhibition The gentle art in 2007.
The Fitzwilliam has been actively improving its collection of prints by Picasso and the exhibition in the Shiba, Dreams and Lies, included our most recent acquisition of his work: Picasso’s portfolio Dreams and Lies of Franco, an extraordinary document of the artist’s political and personal reaction to the Spanish Civil War, bought with the help of the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund. Towards the end of the year we acquired, also with assistance from the same fund, one of the most beautiful of his prints from the Vollard suite, Minotaure aveugle guidé par Marie-Thérèse dans une Nuit étoilée, 1934–5, a miraculously velvet aquatint with dry-point and burin, which complements the impression of his masterpiece La Minotauromachie given to us in 1937.
In the Octagon was displayed the majority of our Chinese jades and hard-stones. The Immortal Stone was accompanied by a catalogue of all our jades from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century by Dr James Lin. His appreciation and knowledge of jade meant that for the first time proper distinction was made between originals, later copies and fakes. Smaller displays were held in the Glaisher gallery of 18th – early 20th century Japanese studio pottery relating to the tea ceremony, arranged by Dr Poole, and of the coin collection of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan: Naval Diplomat and Collector. This was also accompanied by a virtual exhibition on the Museum’s web-site arranged by Dr Frances Parton, a volunteer in the coin room.
There were relatively few acquisitions, but outstanding amongst them were the annotated proofs of Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure for the Department of Manuscripts and Printed Books. Karen and Edward Friedman, Kirsten and Gary Friedman, Ruth and Theodore N. Mirvis, Darcy Bradbury and Eric Seiler through Cambridge in America gave a little copper by Ludovico Carracci of St Sebastian c.1590, formerly in the Barberini and Corsini collections. Hughie O’Donoghue and his wife gave a large painting by Hughie, Wrestlers II, painted in 2000 and through the AIL process we received a fine red chalk, Study of arms, probably drawn by Polidoro da Caravaggio. A delightful drawing by Julie Ribault showing Redouté teaching in the Salle de Buffon in the Jardin des Plantes, was given most appropriately by Samuel Morton-Morris to honour his god-father, Ailwyn, 3rd Lord Fairhaven; this will be the centrepiece of a display of drawings by Redouté and his pupils in 2011. The Marie-Louise von Motesiczky trust gave Mother in bed, c.1977/78, the last painting in a long series of penetrating portraits of the artist’s mother begun in 1929. A large group of Japanese netsuke and okimono were given by Dr Roy Hull with the proviso that those we did not wish to retain for the collection could be sold. These will be the subject of an exhibition by Dr James Lin in 2011. Sir Nicholas and Lady Goodison continue generous patrons of contemporary crafts and have now extended their generosity to include modern jewellery, including fine examples by Jane Adam, David Poston and Nora Fok. To celebrate the Friends’ centenary David Scrase gave a hand coloured woodblock print by Tori Kiyonobu (1664–1729), The Night of Writing, c. 1710. This is the only recorded impression of this print and the first example by the founder of the Tori school to enter the collection. One of the rarest and most desirable of coins in the English medieval series, a silver penny of Æthelread (the Unready) the Agnus Dei type, with a spectacular design of the Lamb of God and Holy Dove struck in 1009 at the Salisbury mint, moneyer Seawine, found at Harlow, Essex in 2008 was acquired with the help of the Friends, the MLA/V&A Grant in aid, the Headley Trust and John and Catherine Porteous. At the end of the year came the welcome news that the collection of 276 Medals and 2 Plaquettes formed by Graham Pollard, former Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals and Deputy Director, had been accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Museum (AIL). This included many items long on display at the Museum, amongst which, perhaps foremost, is the medal of Borghese Borghesi (d. 1490) by the Sienese, Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501).
The Museum also wishes to note its particular thanks for a donation of £100,000 from International Partners Charity Fund towards the Stella Panayotova Fund, which was established by Melvin Seiden in 2007 to support the acquisition, research, publications and exhibitions of medieval manuscripts. It acknowledges the contributions that recent exhibitions and on-going publications produced by the Department of Manuscripts and Printed Books have made to scholarship and the public appreciation of medieval art. Melvin Seiden has suggested that the fund be announced in the Museum’s Annual Report and through other suitable channels in order to encourage donations by others.
Research continues in all departments. The Graham Robertson Room re-opened as a study room under the supervision of Marit Gruijs in September 2008. It has proved an extremely useful addition to the service we supply to scholars, students and the general public.
Since January 2009 Rebecca Bridgman has been engaged in researching and creating catalogue entries for the Islamic pottery collection comprising almost 800 objects, or groups of objects, dating from the ninth to nineteenth centuries ad. Almost one third of this collection has now been recorded, with each record including a description, condition report and reference to published parallels in other collections. This information has been disseminated via the on-line public access catalogue (OPAC). Rebecca has also contributed to the educational programme at the Museum giving lunch time talks, object handling sessions for young people and a study day for adults.
The Department of Coins and Medals hosts three major on-going research projects: Medieval European Coinage, with ten overseas collaborators publishing volumes based on our collection, and the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, both British Academy projects, and the Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds, the national UK database. Dr Adrian Popescu co-directs the Noviodunum Archaeological Project, Romania (funded by the AHRC), investigating the most important Roman and Byzantine naval base on the Lower Danube. Two Ph.D. students were based in the Department, supervised by the Keeper, Dr Mark Blackburn.
Of particular interest is the publication of the first two volumes of The Cambridge Illuminations Research Project, which is hosted by the Department of Manuscripts and Printed Books, and is producing a multi-volume series of catalogues of some 4,000 illuminated manuscripts and incunabula at the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge Colleges. The first two volumes cover the Frankish Kingdoms, the Low Countries, Germany, and Central Europe. Research on material from the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas is well under way and the next set of volumes is expected to appear by the end of 2010.
Dr Sally-Ann Ashton continued working on her Egyptology outreach project in English prisons for which she was granted leave of absence from September 2007 to October 2009.
Research underpinning the redisplay of the Greek and Roman collections started in 2008, thanks to a three year grant from the AHRC that has strengthened the Museum team of Lucilla Burn and Julie Dawson through the employment of two Research Associates, Kate Cooper and Christina Rozeik, as well as through the collaboration of colleagues in the Faculty of Classics. After the redisplay, the project team will focus on research into materials, technologies, ancient contexts and collectors: the results will be largely disseminated via the website.
Nearly one-third of the Museum’s collections now have digital records, the majority of which are available on OPAC (the online public access version of the catalogue). Much of this increase is the result of the ongoing Renaissance-funded retrospective documentation and digitisation of the coins and print collections by two full-time members of staff. Prints being scanned are mainly portraits and work has continued from the collection of engravings to mezzotints. The majority of prints acquired since 1997 have been added to the database. The latest batches include works by Frank Auerbach, Pablo Picasso, Hughie O’Donoghue, Howard Hodgkin, the large collection of works by twentieth-century and contemporary artists, given by the Print Studio, Cambridge, and the recent purchases of two Whistler prints, The Beggars and The Doorway. Additions to the coin records include Roman coins, mainly gold and silver pieces from the early and central centuries of the Empire. With this upload the entirety of the Museum’s Roman collection from Augustus (27 bc – 14 ad) to Septimius Severus (193–211 ad) was brought online, excepting only acquisitions made during 2007, and makes the Museum’s Roman Imperial Collections one of the largest online.
Applied Arts records, including the transfer of existing records of the armour and the cataloguing of the silver collection, were added to the central database. And at the Sedgwick Museum, where a Documentation Assistant is Renaissance funded, progress was made on improving the quantity and usability of collections database records and other resources available online by tackling retrospective accessioning and the cataloguing of currently undocumented collections.
The Fitzwilliam Museum applied for and gained approved status in 2008 under Section 136 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Part 6, which provides immunity from seizure for cultural objects on loan from abroad in temporary exhibitions in museums. Exhibitions involving loans from abroad are now playing a much more important role in the Museum’s programme and approved status under this Act offers an enhanced level of protection to loans from the point of view of the lender and the Museum. It is also the culmination of the due diligence procedures that the Museum follows when researching and requesting loans to an exhibition.
Application for approval was made shortly before the exhibition From the Land of the Golden Fleece: Tomb Treasures of Ancient Georgia that opened at the Fitzwilliam in October 2008. As a result, the application schedule was very tight and it was necessary to run the required publication of information on the Museum’s website about the objects to be included under the scheme alongside the application.
The application for approved status helped the Museum to formalise some of its existing due diligence procedures and resulted in the publication on the Museum’s intranet of a new set of due diligence standards, risk assessment and checklist documents. In addition the Museum’s loans-in policy and agreement forms were reviewed and updated. The assessors of the Fitzwilliam’s application provided valuable feedback on the initial submission, identifying strengths in much of the supporting documentation but offering advice such as the introduction of a more step by step process in the procedural documents. Areas requiring more information were also highlighted, particularly the documentary evidence of due diligence work and provenance research at the Museum. At the point of application, the Fitzwilliam had not previously borrowed extensively from abroad and therefore had little documentary evidence of due diligence checks in relation to a recent exhibition. However, recent documentation of due diligence checks carried out when researching a potential acquisition were supplied and the lenders to the From the Land of the Golden Fleece exhibition (which had been organised first by a museum outside the UK) were able to provide the necessary confirmation of the provenance of the works on loan to the exhibition.
To date, two exhibitions have been shown at the Fitzwilliam Museum that have included protected items:
– Shown at the Fitzwilliam Museum from 2 October 2008 to 4 January 2009
– 143 items for which protection was sought. All objects were on loan from the Georgian National Museum and all were archaeological finds, including gold and silver jewellery, sculpture and funerary items. The provenance research involved correspondence with the exhibition’s initial organisers in the USA and with the Georgian National Museum, who confirmed that all objects were acquired from excavations at the archaeological site of Vani (West Georgia). The fieldwork had been undertaken by the Research Center for Archaeology, which is part of the Georgian National Museum. The clear provenance of the items indicated that the risk associated with the loans was minimal.
– Following publication on the Fitzwilliam’s website of information and images of the items, no enquiries or claims were received under Section 7 of the Protection of Cultural Objects on Loan Regulations 2008.
– Shown at the Fitzwilliam Museum from 16 June to 4 October 2009
– 36 items for which protection was sought. The items were on loan from both public and private lenders. They were all flat art, including paintings, drawings and prints. Due diligence checks included establishing provenance information from the lenders, researching catalogue information and carrying out checks on the Art Loss Register and lootedart.com. Provenance was confirmed for the majority of items but for one potential loan from Belgrade, a pastel drawing by Edgar Degas, insufficient evidence was available and on requesting further information the lender advised that there was a third party claim on the work. It was agreed, therefore, that the loan would be against the Fitzwilliam’s loans-in policy and ethical position and the loan request was withdrawn.
– Following publication on the Fitzwilliam’s website of information and images of the remaining items, no enquiries or claims were received under Section 7 of the Protection of Cultural Objects on Loan Regulations 2008.
The conservation division has this year undertaken several major projects which have involved conservators from all departments. Most of the conservation staff were involved in preparations for the Darwin exhibition, including condition checking and installation of the many external loans. The Cockerell exhibition and the Land of the Golden Fleece also occupied Manuscripts and Printed Books, Antiquities and Applied Arts conservators in preparation, installation and deinstallation duties.
This year we have benefited greatly from two new, albeit temporary, members of the division, and several placements. Christina Rozeik joined the Antiquities Department as the part AHRC-funded conservator for the Greek Gallery project, for a two year period. Andor Vince, who was appointed under the Heritage Lottery Fund/Institute of Conservation intern programme, undertook a one year placement in Preventive Conservation, starting in September under the supervision of Julie Dawson. He worked on vital preventive conservation projects affecting the whole of the collection, involving disaster planning, environmental concerns within the Museum such as light and relative humidity control, pest management, and a museum-wide outline collections-care plan. During the autumn, two students undertook internships within the Division: Pia Edqvist from the conservation programme at Gothenburg University undertook a four month internship in Antiquities (with a special project on the preservation problems of Egyptian mud seals) and Claire Solman, from the University of Lincoln Conservation course, undertook a 6-week placement in the Applied Arts conservation laboratory.
In May, the Museum’s conservators hosted a meeting of the East Anglian Conservators’ Forum. This took the form of a one-day conference on ‘Preventive Conservation: Who Cares?’, part of which gave HLF/Icon funded interns in the region, including Andor Vince, an opportunity to present their work. There have also been several bite-size sessions covering conservation issues, including visits to the studios for other staff
Vases and terracottas were conserved for the Cockerell Exhibition. The most prominent Antiquities conservation project this year was the preparation for the refurbishment and redisplay of the Greek and Roman Galleries, led by Julie Dawson. In the early part of 2009 refurbishment centred on Archaic material, and also on the remounting of the two groups of stone heads. A project to investigate white grounds and post-firing pigments on the ceramics was begun in collaboration with Spike Bucklow, and Christina Rozeik organised a retouching workshop in January for conservators and technicians in the Museum, with the aim of sharing knowledge and developing specialised skills. It was led by Lucy Wrapson and Penny Bendall (private conservator).
The Barbara Hepworth monumental bronze, ‘Four Square, Walk-through’ (M.12-2000) on loan to Churchill College, Cambridge, was found to be in need of conservation to remedy recent damage caused by the rusting of several internal iron bolts. Jo Dillon steered this major project, which also involved research into the probable original patination, in collaboration with Lyndsey Morgan (Patina Art Collection Care Ltd), and research input from the Engineering Department, Tate Gallery, Spike Bucklow and others. In the light of this an inspection was also made of the tripartite Barbara Hepworth monumental bronze sculpture, ‘Family of Man’ (M.13-2000, M.14-2000, M.15-2000) on loan to Snape Maltings, Suffolk, to assess their condition.
Dr Trevor Emmett, Department of Forensic Science and Chemistry, Anglia Ruskin University worked in the department on a project to identify gemstones in the jewellery and Oriental arms collections using portable Raman spectroscopy
Numerous other treatments were carried out by Jo Dillon on items for loan, and for museums exhibitions; on furniture (by Anthony Beech), clocks (by Brian Jackson) and ceramics (by Penny Bendall), and a volunteer, Olivia McGill, a student on the West Dean College Ceramic Conservation Course, worked on cleaning and repairing ceramics in August.
Bob Proctor continued to work on the manuscript collection. Svetlana Taylor completed the second year of a four year conservation project of Founder’s Library material.
A large variety of work was carried out this year, including as principal project the continuation of research and conservation of a further 112 Rembrandt etchings by Bryan Clarke, and the conservation of 33 Van Dyck Portrait etchings by Richard Farleigh for the ‘Changing faces’ exhibition. In addition, important conservation treatments on British and Continental drawings and watercolours (by Ruskin, Cotman, Francia, Prout, Scott, Leitch and others) were prioritised and completed, as well as work on Japanese prints.
In March, the studio received two large groups of visitors: from the ICON Book and Paper Group (helped by Svetlana Taylor), and from the Norfolk Conservation Service.
The conservation work undertaken this year has been very eventful and successful, with the projected target of work achieved by the end of the financial year.
Two new postgraduate Diploma students were welcomed in September: Victoria Sutcliffe who graduated in Art History and Fine Art at Reading University, and Eleanor von Aderkas with a degree in chemistry from McGill University in Montreal. Two new interns also joined us: Kathleen Froyen from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in October and Rose Miller from the Courtauld Institute in January, whilst Christine Reelsbo and Youjin No were invited to stay on for a second year of their internships. Ian Perrins began the second year of his Mellon Fellowship. In January, Lucy Wrapson, who had been an intern here, began a three year research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust into the technique and art history of East Anglian rood screens. At the end of July 2009, the two third year Diploma students, Emma Boyce and Daniela Leonard, graduated with high marks.
In the studios, the principal paintings from the Fitzwilliam Museum which received full treatments were predominantly Dutch or Flemish works; the Neefs the younger Interior of a Gothic Church (91) and Van Nickele Interior of Antwerp Cathedral (82; previously thought to be St Bavo, Haarlem) were both treated by Rupert Featherstone, while Christine Reelsbo worked on the Jan Breughel (workshop?) A vase of Flowers (PD.21-1975) and the third year Diploma students treated and made technical reconstructions of Van Delen Church interior (30) and Dutch C17th Sea Piece (623), which was found to have underdrawing similar to that of Ruisdael. The Perez Flowers in a sculpted vase (PD.43-1954) was fully treated prior to loan by Kathleen Froyen, the small Willaerts Family Group (534) was also treated prior to loan, and the Delacroix Bride of Abydos was also completed. The series of views in Mount Merrion Park (445, 447, 464, 466 and 467) by William Ashford were cleaned by Ian Perrins, who also began a research project on their technique. The major long term project for the Museum was the continuation of the cleaning of the Sebastiano del Piombo Adoration of the Shepherds (138) by Renate Woudhuysen and Youjin No.
The significant Lely portrait of A Lady, probably Mary Parsons, later Mrs Draper (2442) was fully treated by Jenny Rose, and the Monet of Rocks at Port Coton, the lion rock (PD27.1998) was cleaned by Renate Woudhuysen in preparation for the Darwin exhibition, with a significant improvement in the tonal values and levels of saturation, previously deadened and distorted by the discoloured varnish.
For Trinity College, two panel paintings were fully treated: Bartel Bruyn Anne of Cleves? (by Marie Louise Sauerberg and Christine Reelsbo) and C16th English school Stephen Gardner (by Rupert Featherstone) as the beginning of a major project of conservation and technical examination of many of the College’s Tudor paintings. Two portraits of the Founder and his wife were cleaned for Downing College by the first year Diploma students, whilst a number of pictures for King’s College were treated in the studios and in situ.
Other significant work include the full technical examination and treatment of a painting attributed to the Master of St Severin, Adoration of the Magi for the National Trust (Nostell Priory) by Rose Miller, full treatment of the Canaletto Caprice View of the Monastery of Lateran Canons from the Royal Collection (Rupert Featherstone) while Mary Kempski cleaned and restored a Virgin and Child by Butinone (Private Collection) and Marie Louise Sauerberg led the striplining of Van Dyck Fourth Duke of Lennox from Holkham Hall, assisted by the first year Diploma students. Emma Boyce completed the extensive restoration of a Piazza Virgin and Child previously attributed to Sodoma, from Walsingham. Other collections for which work was undertaken in the studios included Holkham House, Churchill College and Eton College, whilst in-situ treatments were undertaken by staff and students at Southill Park, the Sessions House at Northampton, the William Morris Museum in Walthamstow, Felbrigg House (NT), Boughton House and Weston Park. Two very large Tudor panel paintings were inspected at Chichester Cathedral, leading to a commission for their conservation and possible cleaning; this very major undertaking is dependent on fund raising by the Cathedral authorities, which is now under way.
Marie Louise Sauerberg undertook a variety of conservation duties at Westminster Abbey this year, as well as her studio treatments and teaching duties at the Institute.
In May, the annual study trip for the students, most of the interns and some of the staff was made to Los Angeles, to coincide with a symposium at the Getty Conservation Center on the conservation of panel paintings. The conservation facilities and galleries at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Huntington Library and Art Gallery, and the Norton Simon Museum were also visited.
The year began with the continuation rewiring of the building by EMBS, and the principal studios and the photographic area had been completed by the beginning of term in September, although the work continued elsewhere in the building for a few more months.
The Institute was approached by the BBC for their television series ‘The private Life of a Masterpiece’ to create a partial technical reconstruction of Caravaggio’s Taking of Christ (National Gallery of Ireland), and this was undertaken by Renate Woudhuysen and Rupert Featherstone, who also demonstrated the techniques on camera. The programme was shown on BBC 2 at Easter.
A research project on the techniques and materials of Sir John Gilbert’s paintings, in collaboration with the Guildhall Art Gallery, London, was undertaken by Spike Bucklow and Kathleen Froyen.
Information on teaching and related activities carried out by Museum staff is available from the Museum. The full Report is also available at http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/about/AnnualReport2008-2009.pdf
Martin Allen (with the late C. E. Blunt), ‘English and Scottish coins’ in H. Rees, et al., Artefacts and Society in Roman and Medieval Winchester. Small Finds from the Suburbs and Defences, 1971–1986 (Winchester, 2008), pp. 282–3.
Martin Allen, ‘Review of P. Nightingale, Trade, Money and Power in Medieval England (Aldershot, 2007)’, Numismatic Chronicle 168 (2008), pp. 493–5.
Martin Allen, ‘Review of T. Everson, The Galata Guide to the Farthing Tokens of James I & Charles I. A History and Reclassification (Llanfyllin, 2007)’, Numismatic Chronicle 168 (2008), pp. 495–7.
Martin Allen and Gareth Williams, ‘Coin Hoards: Leiston area, Suffolk, 2006’, Numismatic Chronicle 168 (2008), p. 415.
Martin Allen (with Leigh Allen), ‘Metalwork and coins’, in A. Norton and G. Cockin, ‘Excavations at the Classics Centre, 65–67 St Giles, Oxford’, Oxoniensia 73 (2008), pp. 161–94, at pp. 185–6.
Mark Blackburn, ‘The coin finds from Kaupang’, Kaupang – The Means of Exchange, ed. D. Skre, Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series 2 (Aarhus and Oslo, 2008), pp. 29–74.
Mark Blackburn (with Gert Rispling and Kenneth Jonsson), ‘Catalogue of the coins found at Kaupang’, Kaupang – The Means of Exchange, ed. D. Skre, Kaupang Excavation Project Publication Series 2 (Aarhus and Oslo, 2008), pp. 75–93.
Mark Blackburn (with M. McCormick and G. Constable), ‘Philip Grierson’, Speculum 83:3 (2008), pp. 802–4.
Mark Blackburn, ‘Presidential Address 2007. Currency under the Vikings. Part 4. The Dublin coinage c. 995–1050’, British Numismatic Journal 78 (2008), pp. 111–37.
Mark Blackburn, ‘Coin Hoards: Norwich (40 Fishergate), Norfolk, 2005’, Numismatic Chronicle 168 (2008), pp. 411–12.
Mark Blackburn, ‘President’s review of the year 2007’, British Numismatic Journal 78 (2008), pp. 295–7.
Rebecca Bridgman (ed.) ‘Islamic Ceramics in Western Europe: Fresh Perspectives, through Recent Research’, Al-Masāq, 21.1 (2009). This edited special issue of the journal includes an authored paper: Rebecca Bridgman ‘Crossing the Cultural Divide? Continuity in Ceramic Production and Consumption between the Almoravid and Mudéjar Periods in Seville’, Al-Masāq, 21.1 (2009), pp. 13–29.
Spike Bucklow, ‘Stories from a Building Site’ in Conservation and Access, ed. D. Saunders, J. H. Townsend, and S. Woodcock, IIC, London, 2008, pp. 126–9.
Spike Bucklow: ‘Lapis lazuli’, Crossing Cultures, CIHA 32nd Congress, ed. J. Anderson, University of Melbourne Press, Melbourne, 2009, pp. 560–3.
Spike Bucklow: ‘The representation of technical imagery’, published on-line at www.digitalpaintinganalysis.org/IP4AI.
Lucilla Burn and Julie Dawson, ‘Redisplaying Greece and Rome at the Fitzwilliam Museum’, Minerva, May/June 2009, pp. 27–30.
T. V. Buttrey, ‘A hoard of Spanish and Spanish American Cobs’, Numismatic Chronicle 168 (2008), pp. 443–6.
Trevor F. Emmett, Julia Poole and Jo Dillon, ‘The application of a mobile Raman spectrometer to the technical description of jewelled artefacts in The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge University, U.K.)’ in P. Vandenabeele and L. Moens (eds.), GeoRaman ’08: 8th International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy Applied to the Earth Sciences – Sensu Latu. Book of Abstracts.Ghent, Belgium, 2nd – 6th June 2008. Academia Press, Gent, Belgium (2008), p. 86.
Emmett, T. F., Rozeik, C., Dawson, J. and Wood, N. 2008: ‘The Egyptian Gallery of The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge University, U.K.): opportunities for the application of Raman spectroscopy and other spectroscopic techniques’ in P. Vandenabeele and L. Moens (eds.) GeoRaman ’08: 8th International Conference on Raman Spectroscopy Applied to the Earth Sciences – Sensu Latu. Book of Abstracts. Ghent, Belgium, 2nd – 6th June 2008. Academia Press, Gent, Belgium (2008), p. 87.
Carol Humphrey, Friends. A Common Thread. Samplers with a Quaker influence, Witney Antiques, Witney, 2008.
Jonathan Jarrett, ‘Digitizing Numismatics: getting the Fitzwilliam Museum’s coins to the world-wide web’, The Heroic Age 12 (2009), online, http://www.heroicage.org/issues/12/foruma.php.
James Lin, The Immortal Stone – Chinese Jades from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century, London: Scala, 2009.
James Lin, ‘The Magic Stone’, Oxford: The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum Newsletter, February 2009, p. 11.
Jane Munro and Diana Donald (eds.) Endless Forms. Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2009; Jane Munro, ‘More Like a Work of Art than of Nature’: Darwin, Beauty and Sexual Selection’, in Endless Forms. Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts, New Haven and London, 2009, pp. 237–252; Jane Munro, catalogue entries on drawings by Degas in, Raphael to Renoir: Drawings form the Collection of Jean Bonna, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2009, pp. 42–44, 47–50, 52–55; Jane Munro, Book Review, David Bindman, The History of British Art, 3 vols, YCBA and Tate publishing, London, 2009, The Art Newspaper, February 2009.
Jane Munro, ‘Darwins Federn’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 March, 2009, p. 31.
Jane Munro and Diana Donald Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts exhibition guide.
Stella Panayotova, ‘From Toronto to Cambridge: The Illuminated Manuscripts of Lord Lee of Fareham’, University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 2 (2008), pp. 673–710.
Stella Panayotova, The Macclesfield Psalter, London, Thames & Hudson, 2008.
Stella Panayotova, ‘The Macclesfield Psalter’, in A2Z: Palaeography Special Interest Group 19 (Autumn 2008), pp. 5–13.
Stella Panayotova, I Turned It into a Palace: Sydney Cockerell and the Fitzwilliam Museum, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 2008.
Stella Panayotova, ‘The Macclesfield Psalter’, in The History of British Art, Vol. I: 600–1600, ed. Tim Ayers, Tate Britain and The Yale Center for British Art, 2008, 228–229.
Stella Panayotova, ‘New Miniatures by Pacino di Bonaguida in Cambridge’, The Burlington Magazine CLI (March 2009), pp. 144–148.
Stella Panayotova, ed. with Nigel Morgan, Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge: A Catalogue of Western Book Illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge Colleges. Part One, vol. 1: The Frankish Kingdoms, The Northern Netherlands, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Austria; vol. 2: The Meuse Region, The Southern Netherlands, London/Turnhout: Harvey Miller/Brepols, 2009
Stella Panayotova, ‘Newly-Identified Miniatures from the Old Library’, in Queens’ College Record (2009), pp. 19–22 and front cover, reprinted from The Burlington Magazine CLI (March 2009), pp. 144–148.
Stella Panayotova, ‘Former Virtue’, Review of Antoine de Schruyver, The Prayer Book of Charles the Bold: A Study of a Flemish masterpiece from the Burgundian Court, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2008, in the TLS, 15 May 2009, p. 25.
Julia Poole, résumé of lecture given in December ‘Glass purchased for the Household of the 4th Duke of Bedford 1732–71’, Glass Circle News, 118 (2009), pp. 4–6. Review of Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics: a Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London (British Museum Press), 2009 in The Art Newspaper, April, 2009, no. 201, p. 47.
Julia E. Poole, Review of John Sandon, ‘The Ewers-Tyne Collection of Worcester Porcelain at Cheekwood’, Burlington Magazine, CLA (June 2009), p. 497.
Julia Poole, ‘6167 Nicholas and Judith Goodison Gift, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum’, 2008/2009 Review, The Annual Report of the Art Fund, p. 132.
Adrian Popescu, ‘Iron Age Coins’ in C. Evans, D. Mackay, L. Webley, Borderlands. The Archaeology of the Addenbrooke’s Environs, South Cambridge, Cambridge, 2008, p. 63.
Adrian Popescu, ‘Wood Norton, Norfolk’, in R. Abdy, E. Ghey, C. Hughes, I. Leins, Coin Hoards from Roman Britain, XII, Wetteren, 2009, p. 332.
Rowe, S., and Rozeik, C. ‘The uses of cyclododecane in conservation’. Reviews in Conservation9, 17–31.
Rozeik, C. ‘The treatment of an unbaked mud statue from ancient Egypt’, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation48, pp. 69–81.
David Scrase, ‘Marco Benefial, The Vision of St Philip Neri’ in The Art Fund Review, 2007/2008, p. 76.
David Scrase, Review, Chris Fischer and Joachim Meyer ‘Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings, Staens Museum for Kunst: Neapolitan Drawings, in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CL, No. 1265, August 2008, p. 556.
David Scrase, Review, Suzanne Boorsch and John Marciari, ‘Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery’, in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CL, No. 1265, August 2008, p. 557.
Helen Strudwick, ‘Papyrus at the Fitzwilliam Museum’, Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch 14, pp. 201–212.
Lucy Wrapson, (ed.), News in Conservation, issue 8, October 2008.
Lucy Wrapson, ed. News in Conservation no. 11, April 2009.
Lucy Wrapson, Carol Blackett-Ord and Felix Pollak: Print Quarterly: an index, 1994–2003, London, 2009.
Lucy Wrapson, ed., News in Conservation, June 2009.
We gratefully acknowledge support for the Museum from the following individuals and organisations:
|
Ann D Foundation |
Leon Levy Foundation |
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The Art Fund |
A G Leventis Foundation |
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Arts & Humanities Research Council |
Leverhulme Trust |
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Aurelius Charitable Trust |
Angie and George Loudon |
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Autonomy |
Macmillan Publishers Ltd |
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Bahari Foundation |
Marlay Group |
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Barclays Bank |
James and Emily Rose Marrow |
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Nicholas and Diana Baring |
Hamish Maxwell |
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Timothy and Phillipa Barker |
McDonald Institute |
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Bidwells |
Paul Mellon Centre |
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Charlotte Bonham-Carter Charitable Trust |
MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund |
|
British Academy |
John R Murray Charitable Trust |
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R M Burton Charitable Trust |
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council |
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Professor Ted Buttrey |
NADFAS |
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Cambridge City Council |
Friends of the National Libraries |
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Cambridge County Council |
National Manuscripts Conservation Trust |
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Cambridge University Press |
R M & KIBS Needham Charitable Trust |
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Charles Chadwyck-Healey |
Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers |
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Chapman Charitable Trust |
Paul Hamlyn Foundation |
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Colin Clark |
Antony Pemberton |
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Gifford Combs |
Estate of Jeremy Pemberton |
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J F Costopoulos Foundation |
The Philecology Foundation |
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Coutts & Co |
Pilgrim Trust |
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The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation |
Anna Plowden Trust |
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DCMS/Wolfson Fund |
The Princes Foundation for Children & the Arts |
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Dr Christopher & Mrs Ann Dobson |
Sir William and Lady Proby |
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Lord Egremont |
Charles & Gill Rawlinson |
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Embassy of Japan |
Ridgeons |
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Eridge Trust |
RK Charitable Trust |
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The Esmée Fairbairn Trust |
Christer Salen |
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Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable Trust |
Sasakawa Foundation |
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Sam Fogg |
Mr Melvin Seiden |
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The Friends of The Fitzwilliam Museum |
Denis and Minouche Severis |
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Estate of Professor P Grierson |
Estate of Mrs Joan Anne Simms |
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Grocers’ Charity |
Carol Atack & Alex van Someren |
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Johnny van Haeften |
Estate of Professor Sparck Needham |
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Headley Trust |
Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation |
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The Higher Education Funding Council for England |
Lady Juliet Tadgell |
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Roy Hull |
Thriplow Trust |
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Idlewild Trust |
Trinity College |
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International Partners Charity Fund |
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation |
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Isaac Newton Trust |
TTP plc |
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C H Jeeps |
UK Culture Education China Trust |
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John Coates Charitable Trust |
Unex Group |
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John Lewis Partnership |
Vermeer Associates |
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John S Cohen Foundation |
Wellcome Trust |
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Danny Katz |
Westminster Foundation |
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Roger Keverne |
HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust |
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Kirby Laing Foundation |
Wixamtree Trust |
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Kress Foundation |
Helen & Anthony Wyand |
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Martin Daunton (Chair) |
Richard Cork |
Jean Michel Massing |
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Nicholas Baring |
Christopher Hum |
David McKitterick |
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Paul Binski |
Caroline Humphrey |
Sarah Squire |
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John Brown |
John Keatley |
Richard Wilson |
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Paul Cartledge |
(as of 1 October 2009)