18 Oct 2022 - 22 Jan 2023 10:00-17:00 Tues-Sat, 12:00-17:00 Sun, Closed Mon Fitzwilliam Museum

Description

Medieval book artists – known as illuminators – were remarkable innovators. This focussed display charts the changing use of pigments and gold by British illuminators from tenth to the fifteenth century, looking at themes such as Discovery and Innovation, The Story of Blue, and Working with Gold.

The 14 manuscripts on display are drawn principally from our own collections and include the Macclesfield Psalter and the Peterborough Psalter. Exceptional loans from Cambridge colleges, including the second volume of the Bury Bible from the Parker Library, are also on display.

The manuscripts have been selected from over 70 that we have examined as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded research collaboration with Durham University, and several have their origins in our local region of East Anglia. The display showcases the pioneering contribution the Fitzwilliam’s heritage scientists and curators have made to manuscript studies.

Image: The Bird Psalter, London, c. 1284. Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 2-1954, fol. 1r.

Upcoming Events

Signs for the Living
Exhibition

29 Jan 2023 - 23 Apr 2023

Signs for the Living

COLOUR: Art, Science and Power
Exhibition

26 Jul 2022 - 23 Apr 2023

COLOUR: Art, Science and Power

Picturing the Invisible: Earthquake, Meltdown, Memory
Exhibition
Islanders: The Making of the Mediterranean
Exhibition
Women: Makers and Muses
Exhibition

11 Oct 2022 - 25 Jun 2023

Women: Makers and Muses

Island Identities
Conference

28 Mar 2023 - 30 Mar 2023

Island Identities

Refugee Silver: Huguenots in Britain
Exhibition

2 Aug 2022 - 30 Jul 2023

Refugee Silver: Huguenots in Britain

Bearing Witness? Violence and Trauma on Paper
Exhibition
Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery
Exhibition

4 Mar 2023 - 25 Jun 2023

Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery

Jill Swarbrick-Banks: Transcendental Landscapes
Exhibition
Radium Dreams
Exhibition

2 Mar 2023 - 3 Sep 2023

Radium Dreams

Defaced: Object Handling Session
Exhibition
Simulacra
Exhibition

4 Apr 2023 - 9 Jun 2023

Simulacra