Latest News
A huge thank you to everyone who attended the Plant Sale on Sunday and helped to make it such a success. We are delighted to report that a magnificent total of over £900 was raised for the Museum.
Rembrandt and his contemporaries: Paintings from the Royal Collection
Next week sees the opening of this ravishing exhibition, which features paintings generously lent by Her Majesty The Queen. The Holburne’s latest show includes many masterpieces by Rubens, Ruisdael, van der Heyden and Hobbema as well as by Rembrandt himself. More information available on the page Royal Collection. A special Preview to which all Friends are invited will take place on Thursday 23 May 6.30 – 8pm. Please RSVP to holburnefriends@gmail.com by 17 May.
Jan van der Heyden
A Country House on the Vliet near Delft,
Circa 1665
Royal Collection Trust/© 2013, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Object of the Month
Sketch of the Fancy Fair at Sydney Gardens, Bath
Circa 1836
This anonymous lithograph is inscribed 'Sketch of the Fancy Fair at Sydney Gardens, Bath, For the Relief of Distressed Seamen'. Although undated, it appears to depict the rear elevation of the Hotel shortly after it was converted into a 'private lodging house' and renamed the Pulteney Hotel in 1836.
The row of supper boxes that extended from the south side of the Hotel is depicted in use as stalls for the fancy fair. They are draped with British and French flags which act as awnings. Women and children crowd round tables within them. The boxes on the far left of the picture were converted into a Cosmorama in the early 1820s. This was an indoor peepshow, where brightly-lit paintings of distant places and dramatic scenes such as Vesuvius erupting were viewed through convex glass windows to make them appear life sized. Exactly opposite the Cosmorama, in the last three supper boxes on the north side was an Aviary which housed over 140 rare and exotic birds.
We would welcome readers’ suggestions for their favourite items to be featured on this page. Please send your ideas and a short description to Mary Jane Wilkinson at holburnefriends@gmail.com
Newsletter
Help us make your donation go further. Become an on-line newsletter reader.
The cost of sending out the Newsletter and What's On continues to increase in line with printing and postage rates. We would like to delay increasing the subscription rate for another year at least, so if you would like to make the most of your donation, why not consider reading the on-line versions in future.
Find the latest Newsletter (pdf) here and What's On information on the Museum's own website.
Please email uconcannon@btinternet.com if you prefer to stop receiving the information through the post. But please note that at present Windows Vista users may have a problem accessing it.
If you are interested in becoming a Friend please click here.
Shopping at the Holburne
The shop is selling Friends Single (£25) and Joint Memberships (£35) in attractive gift packs. In addition to being an ideal present that lasts a whole year, it also supports the Holburne Museum. The packs include Membership Cards and details of the Friends’ special benefits:
- Private previews and free entry into exhibitions
- The Friends of the Holburne Museum Newsletter which is published three times a year and is accompanied by the Museum What’s On guide
- A lively programme of cultural and social events
- A 10% discount in the Museum shop and Café
Four souvenir postcards of the Holburne Museum are also included in the pack.
Friends' Quiz
The Friends' Quiz on 14 February went down so well that we thought people might like to have the questions to try at home. These can be downloaded here. The answers can be requested via our gmail address holburnefriends@gmail.com
