The Fitzwilliam Museum

For the next two years a monumental bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, titled Hill Arches, will be on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum from the Henry Moore Foundation in Hertfordshire.

Moore is best known for sculptures of the human figure sited in architectural or natural settings, but here he has created a landscape in its own right - perhaps, as the title suggests, an echo of the rolling hills of his native Yorkshire.

This enormous, four piece sculpture will be sited in front of the Museum, visible to all visitors and those walking down Trumpington Street.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/article.html?5537

Salomon Gessner (1730–88) was a Swiss artist and writer whose idyllic poetry and prose made him a household name in his lifetime. After his death his family invited a German printmaker, Carl Wilhelm Kolbe (1759–1835), to produce prints after a set of Gessner’s landscape drawings, which capture the Romantic period’s preoccupation with the pastoral idyll and delight in the natural world. This exhibition showcases a recently acquired complete set of Kolbe’s twenty-five etchings, issued in five parts from 1805-11, together with a selection of works by eminent masters from whom Gessner drew inspiration, including Anthonie Waterloo, Allart van Everdingen and Claude Lorrain.

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/calendar/whatson/honey-many-flowers-carl-wilhelm-kolbe-and-salomon-gessner%E2%80%99s-idylls

This third display from the Kettle’s Yard collection brings together paintings by Alfred Wallis and Christopher Wood that are inspired by the sea and shore. Following the artists’ first meeting in St Ives in 1928, Wallis and Wood continued to capture innovatively their experiences of the sea. Their paintings also depict the flavour of life in port towns.

The display includes 17 extraordinary paintings by Cornish artist and mariner Alfred Wallis, who painted from memory using the materials around him, recalling his days at sea.

Find out more about Kettle’s Yard’s plans and their collection on their website: www.kettlesyard.co.uk

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/calendar/whatson/sea-shore-paintings-alfred-wallis-christopher-wood-kettle%E2%80%99s-yard-fitzwilliam-museum

Showcasing over 100 samplers from the Museum’s excellent but often unseen collection, this display highlights the importance of samplers as documentary evidence of past lives.

These beautifully embroidered and stitched samplers illuminate the lives of girls and women, from mid-17th century English Quakers to early 20th century school pupils, encompassing their education, employment, religion, family, societal status and needlework skills. The display also highlights the individuality of each sampler, which in some cases is the only surviving document to record the existence of an ordinary young woman.

This display will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue by Carol Humphrey, Honorary Keeper of Textiles, available to purchase from the Courtyard Shop.

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/calendar/whatson/sampled-lives-samplers-fitzwilliam-museum

As part of the commemoration in 2017 of the 70th anniversary of Indian independence - marked by the UK-India Year of Culture - this exhibition, drawn from the Fitzwilliam’s world-class numismatic collection, will explore the history of India through coins produced from the 4th century BC until recent times. Cultural, religious, economic and political developments are richly illustrated by the coins on show. They focus on representative periods of India’s history, ending with a display of banknotes and coins produced since India became independent in 1947.

This exhibition forms part of the University of Cambridge Museums' India Unboxed programme.

Suitable for

• Any age

Website

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/calendar/whatson/elephants-deities-and-ashoka%E2%80%99s-pillar-coins-india-antiquity-present

The Fitzwilliam’s second exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, showcases a selection of Indian miniature paintings and drawings, ranging in date from the 16th to 19th century. The exhibition will include works produced under the patronage of the Mughal dynasty and other princely rulers, as well as several acquired by early British patrons and collectors in India. The paintings and drawings represent some of the main themes that engaged patrons and artists in India in the early modern period, including religious epic and myth, history, royal portraiture, hunting, natural history, music and architecture.

This exhibition forms part of the University of Cambridge Museums' India Unboxed programme.

Suitable for

• Any age