The Speelman Fellowship and Netherlandish art in Cambridge

This essay provides an overview of scholarship on Netherlandish art in Cambridge and the outstanding collections of Dutch and Flemish art in the University's Colleges and The Fitzwilliam Museum. Professor Jean Michel Massing considers the historiography of the discipline within the university and charts the outstanding range of early Netherlandish works, from altarpieces and illuminated manuscripts to coins, in Cambridge collections. Dr Hale discusses later Netherlandish works in Cambridge, charting the web of relationships between the Low Countries and the Fens through early collectors such as Lord Fitzwilliam, founder of the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Reverend Thomas Kerrich to recent donations such as the controversial gift of a late Rubens altarpiece to King’s College Chapel.