THE FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM
The Fitzwilliam Museum (fn. 1) was founded by Richard,
Viscount Fitzwilliam (d. 1816), who bequeathed to
the University his collections of paintings and
etchings, his library, and £100,000 stock. The
income from the stock was to provide a building, to
support the necessary staff, and to meet the cost of
subsequent purchases. (fn. 2) The collections were moved
to Cambridge in 1816, and were placed in the old
Perse Grammar School in Free School Lane, where
they were accessible and where they remained until
1842. They were then moved to the east room of the
Old Schools, which was at that time the University
Library. (fn. 3) The Library Syndicate was unwilling to
house them for long, and in 1848 they were moved
to the present building in Trumpington Street,
which at that date was still uncompleted. (fn. 4) The site
for this building had been acquired in 1821, after
many other sites had been considered, but after this
acquisition nothing further was done until 1834,
when the trustees of the Perse School requested the
removal of the collections from their premises. (fn. 5) In
1835, as the result of a competition, (fn. 6) George Basevi
was selected as the architect for the new building,
and the first stone was laid by Gilbert Ainslie, Master
of Pembroke and Vice-Chancellor, in 1837. (fn. 7)
The main northern block of the museum building,
designed by Basevi, (fn. 8) is of two stories built of Portland stone, and stands back from the road behind
a balustrade. The front has a portico of eight
Corinthian columns, the order being continued on
each side and flanked by advanced wings which
enclose loggias, the whole supporting a cornice and
pediment. The figures on the tympanum of the
pediment were designed by Sir Charles Eastlake,
P.R.A., and this and other sculptural embellishment was executed by W. G. Nicholl. (fn. 9) At Basevi's
death in 1845 the building was not nearly complete,
and the work was taken over by Charles Robert
Cockerell. (fn. 10) By 1847 building had been suspended
because of lack of funds, (fn. 11) and when it was resumed
in 1870 Edward M. Barry, R.A., was appointed
architect. Barry redesigned the entrance hall, from
which two staircases lead down to the ground floor,
and two up to the first floor. The building was completed in 1875, the whole having cost some
£115,000. (fn. 12) A south wing of two floors was opened
in 1924; (fn. 13) it is known as the Marlay Galleries after
C. B. Marlay (d. 1912) whose bequest of pictures,
£80,000, and property later sold for a further
£10,000 is said to have been 'almost comparable
with that of the founder'. At about the same time the
Manuscript Room and Coin Room, at the south-west
corner of the Marlay Galleries, were built through
the munificence of W. N. McClean. (fn. 14) A further twostory extension, paid for by W. J., S. L., and Miss
S. R. Courtauld, was added at the south end of the
Marlay Galleries in 1931; (fn. 15) and the three Henderson
Rooms and the Charrington Print Room at the
south-west corner were opened in 1936. (fn. 16) All these
additions were designed by the firm of A. Dunbar
Smith & Cecil C. Brewer. (fn. 17) The Graham Robertson
Room for drawings and water-colours, designed by
Robert Atkinson & Partners, was opened in 1955.
The founder's collections comprised 144 paintings
(including a Titian, a Veronese, and a Rembrandt),
a set of etchings by Rembrandt and works by other
important engravers, some 10,000 printed books, a
collection of manuscripts and printed music, and
130 medieval illuminated manuscripts. (fn. 18) The size
and scope of the museum's collections have been
constantly extended, most markedly in the 20th
century. The number of paintings and drawings was
increased by 243 pictures, mostly of the Dutch and
Flemish schools, which came to the Fitzwilliam
under the will of Daniel Mesman (d. 1834). (fn. 19) From
1834 to 1848 they were exhibited at the Pitt Press. (fn. 20)
Since then the collection has been enlarged notably
by the bequest of the collection of Charles Ricketts
and Charles Shannon in 1937, (fn. 21) by gifts from many
donors, including John Ruskin (1861) and Charles
Fairfax Murray (1908 and later), and by purchases:
15 early Italian paintings were bought from the
Charles Butler collection in 1893, (fn. 22) £30,000 was
given in 1948 by Lord Fairhaven for the purchase of
English landscape paintings and drawings, (fn. 23) £15,000
was bequeathed by Sir Rowland Biffen (d. 1948) for
the purchase of water-colours, (fn. 24) and by the end of
1953 purchases to the value of £23,000 had been
made from the 'Friends of the Fitzwilliam' fund,
which was started in 1909. (fn. 25) The museum's Print
Room, which is one of the more important in
Europe, contains the collection bequeathed by the
founder, the collection of the Revd. Thomas Kerrich
(bequeathed by his son, 1873), (fn. 26) the old University
cabinet of prints (transferred from the University
Library, 1876), (fn. 27) and gifts from John Charrington
(d. 1939), Honorary Keeper of Prints. (fn. 28) The most
notable additions to the manuscripts were the bequests of Frank McClean (d. 1904), (fn. 29) T. H. Riches
(d. 1935), (fn. 30) and Viscount Lee of Fareham (d. 1947).
The nucleus of the Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities was the collection of marbles presented to
the University by E. D. Clarke in 1803 and transferred to the Fitzwilliam from the University Library
in 1865. Individual antiquities from Egypt had been
given to the museum before this date, and in 1886
E. A. Wallis Budge began to build up the collection
systematically. It was enriched by the bequest in
1953 of Sir Robert Greg's collection, (fn. 31) together with
a large sum of money. It remains small, but is varied
and representative. The Greek and Roman department of the museum was founded in 1850 when John
Disney gave 83 pieces of antique sculpture. (fn. 32) It was
enlarged in 1865 when Clarke's marbles were transferred to the museum, and outstanding among recent
acquisitions was Charles Shannon's bequest of
1937. (fn. 33) The museum's collection of coins and medals
originated in 1589 with Dr. Andrew Perne's bequest
to the University of his cabinet of coins and seals.
This cabinet was transferred from the University
Library to the museum in 1856. (fn. 34) The series of
ancient Greek coins, which ranks third in importance in the world, owes its present status to the purchase of Lt.-Col. W. M. Leake's collection in 1864,
and to the benefactions of J. R. McClean in 1906 and
1912. (fn. 35) The collection of pottery and porcelain,
which includes the Italian maiolica bequeathed by
F. Leverton Harris in 1926 and good examples of
Far Eastern and Islamic wares, became one of the
best in England largely as a result of the bequest of
J. W. L. Glaisher (d. 1928). (fn. 36) The departments of
textiles and of arms and armour have been developed
in the 20th century. (fn. 37) In the library the number of
volumes from the founder's collection, mainly of an
unspecialized character, but including a large number
of music books, had by 1954 been more than doubled.
The additions, for the most part, form a reference
library of books on the history of art. (fn. 38) A bequest by
Frank McClean (d. 1904) included more than 250
early printed books, (fn. 39) and the Marlay bequest also
contained a number of finely printed and bound books.
The museum is in the charge of a Director, under
the general control of the Syndics of the Museum,
a body which includes the Vice-Chancellor or a
deputy, the treasurer of the University, and eight
others. (fn. 40) The first director of the museum was Sir
Sidney Colvin (d. 1927), who was appointed in 1876
and resigned in 1883; (fn. 41) his successors have been
Sir Charles Waldstein (later Walston) (1883–9, d.
1927); (fn. 42) John Henry Middleton (1889–92, d. 1896); (fn. 43)
Montague Rhodes James (1893–1908, d. 1936); (fn. 44)
Sir Sydney Cockerell (1908–37), of whom the ViceChancellor said in a valedictory address 'he has made
the building the ideal of what a museum should
be'; (fn. 45) Louis Colville Grey Clarke (1937–46); (fn. 46) and
Carl Winter (since 1946). (fn. 47)
The Museum of Classical Archaeology, in Little
St. Mary's Lane, was opened in 1884, as an extension
of the Fitzwilliam Museum, but since 1911 it has
been administered separately. (fn. 48)