The Fitzwilliam Museum - University of Cambridge

16 Goya’s Tauromaquia: For or against the
bullfight?
Exhibitions
1 July - 30 December 2004
Charrington Print Room
Goya (1746-1828) published his spectacular set of
prints illustrating the history and practice of
bullfighting in 1816. The artist had been an ardent
supporter of bullfights in his youth, but the end of
the Peninsular War in 1814 brought about political
change that affected the social context for bullfights,
and by 1816 a number of critics – men who were
friends of Goya – had denounced bullfighting as a
cruel spectacle. Did Goya intend his series to
condemn rather than glorify the sport? This display
of the Fitzwilliam’s first edition of the etchings gave
visitors a chance to make up their own minds.
Francisco José de Goya (1746-1828) The agility and
audacity of Juanito Apiñano in ring at Madrid, 1816
Roman Egyptomania
24 September 2004 to 8 May 2005
Octagon
In 30 BC, following the suicide of Cleopatra VII,
Egypt became part of the Roman Empire. This
special exhibition considered the remarkable and
unique relationship between the two cultures,
exploring the influences of Roman occupation upon
Egyptian art, and of Egypt upon its conquerors.
Finds from Sir William Mathew Flinders Petrie’s
excavations at Roman settlements in the Nile valley
illustrated the innovations of Romano-Egyptian
culture and the importance of the Imperial cult in
Egypt was also explored.
A Roman-Egyptian statue representing Arsinoe II,
2nd century AD
The highlight of the exhibition was a newly
identified Roman copy of a statue of one of
Cleopatra’s ancestors from the Emperor Hadrian’s
villa in Rome (illustrated). The statue, which has
been in British private collections for many years was
generously loaned to the Fitzwilliam Museum by its
present owners and was on public display for the
first time.
Augustus John
2 November 2004 to 30 January 2005
Shiba Room
The Fitzwilliam Museum has one of the finest
collections of paintings and drawings by Augustus
John in the UK. This display of around twenty
drawings featured portraits and studies of the women
in John’s life - models, fellow students, mistresses and
wives – and was organised to complement the
exhibition Augustus John and Gwen John at Tate
Britain (29 September 2004 - 9 January 2005).
Tomasso Brothers, private collection