The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Founder's Building.

Paintings from The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

23 March - 19 May 2002
Room 1

The Fitzwilliam Museum houses the collections of art and antiquities of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1816, it is one of the oldest public museums in the country, built around the collection of its founder, Richard, 7th Viscount Fitzwilliam (1745-1816). The Museum's current Courtyard Development project has provided the National Gallery with a unique opportunity to borrow this group of Italian, Dutch and Flemish masterpieces, painted between the mid 16th and 18th centuries.

Reflecting major strengths of The Fitzwilliam Museum's collection, these works share themes associated with High Renaissance and Baroque art, in particular a liking for dramatic encounters and a preoccupation with the transience of human life. Their compositional inventiveness, strong emotional effects, and striking use of light and colour are also characteristic of this period in painting. Furthermore, this selection demonstrates the exchange of ideas between Italian and Netherlandish artists which occurred during this time.

Following the exhibition the paintings will be displayed for a further year alongside works in the National Gallery permanent collection, which will allow them to be viewed in their proper historical contexts.

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