What do you think?
Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art museum of the University of Cambridge, England. It was founded in 1816 and contains magnificent collections of works of art of national and international importance. More than half a million objects and works of art are held in five curatorial Antiquities and Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and Printed Books; Paintings, Drawings and Prints. This impressive new book on the collections is designed to highlight the Museum's many treasures including one of the world's foremost Rembrandt print collections.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 9, 2025
A really sumptuous book, it honours this wonderful museum with excellent photos and informative text. If you haven't been, go to the Fitzwilliam, if only for the artwork!
August 24, 2018
My review is of the 2014 edition by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., offering 256 pages of beautiful illustrations of the Museum's paintings, drawings, prints, applied arts, antiquities, manuscripts, printed books, coins, and medals.
Those lucky enough to be able to visit the great museums of Britain must be grateful that admission to so many is free (though of course you may make a voluntary donation). This means you needn't feel obliged to see everything, in an attempt to get your money's worth. During a recent stay in Cambridge, England, we were able to visit the Fitzwilliam more than once, lingering especially over the antiquities from Greece, Cyprus, and the Roman world, and the paintings by great Italian artists and their contemporaries. Especially important to me as a numismatist is the Fitzwilliam's coin collection, which is better represented in my library by specialist publications than in the sampling given here, or indeed in the Museum's rooms open to the public.
Though inexpensive, it's a beautiful book. Each featured item is displayed on a generous scale with an authoritative description. I was glad to read about all the details in Pieter Brueghel the Younger's Village Festival, but slightly disappointed not to see Canaletto's Entrance to Venice's Grand Canal; instead we have the version by his nephew Bellotto. I would criticize the book's arrangement, which in some sections is quite random, paying attention to neither chronology nor geography.
Those lucky enough to be able to visit the great museums of Britain must be grateful that admission to so many is free (though of course you may make a voluntary donation). This means you needn't feel obliged to see everything, in an attempt to get your money's worth. During a recent stay in Cambridge, England, we were able to visit the Fitzwilliam more than once, lingering especially over the antiquities from Greece, Cyprus, and the Roman world, and the paintings by great Italian artists and their contemporaries. Especially important to me as a numismatist is the Fitzwilliam's coin collection, which is better represented in my library by specialist publications than in the sampling given here, or indeed in the Museum's rooms open to the public.
Though inexpensive, it's a beautiful book. Each featured item is displayed on a generous scale with an authoritative description. I was glad to read about all the details in Pieter Brueghel the Younger's Village Festival, but slightly disappointed not to see Canaletto's Entrance to Venice's Grand Canal; instead we have the version by his nephew Bellotto. I would criticize the book's arrangement, which in some sections is quite random, paying attention to neither chronology nor geography.
March 19, 2012
A really marvelous collection of artworks, spanning Europe and the Middle East.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews