Over the past fifty years, Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi have built up a remarkable collection of paintings, furniture, sculpture, glass and ceramics. This includes the renowned nude portrait of Patricia Preece by Stanley Spencer, William Burges’s painted ‘Flax and Wool’ cabinet, a Spanish 17th century polychrome wood sculpture of the Christ Child, Art Nouveau Tiffany glass, metalwork and ceramics designed by Christopher Dresser and an extremely rare Meissen porcelain vulture.
These artworks have generously been offered to the Fitzwilliam Museum on long-term loan and the next few months will see over 130 pieces gradually being introduced throughout the galleries. The objects will be displayed throughout the Museum to create intriguing and witty juxtapositions and ‘conversations’, as the works were seen in the Valsecchi’s private home. They can be identified in the galleries by their specially designed labels.
Image: Favrile glass vase, c.1900, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) for Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co. Made by Stourbridge Glass Co., Corona Glassworks, Long Island, New York. Lent by the Frua-Valsecchi Collection, LL.115-2016
