Taking inspiration from the Artist: Unknown exhibition, conservator Rupert Featherstone, Director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, will give a short talk in the Ede Room.
Analysis can provide the key to understanding the creative process, context, and even the identity of an artist. Join us to learn about the ways modern analysis can uncover hidden secrets in artworks.
FREE, booking recommended
Please come to the information desk on arrival to Kettle’s Yard.
About Artist: Unknown
From the ancient to the contemporary – whether in a museum, book or auction house – the way we engage with art has revolved around the cult of the individual. But what happens when we don’t know who made something?
Artist: Unknown takes this question as its focus, bringing together for the first time an extraordinary selection of anonymous art and artefacts from the University of Cambridge’s renowned museums and collections.
About Rupert Featherstone
Rupert Featherstone gained an MA in Natural Sciences and Art History at Magdalene College, Cambridge (1977-81), and subsequently was awarded his postgraduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel paintings from the Hamilton Kerr Institute (1981-4). After an internship at the Royal Collection, he was appointed as one of the painting conservators working at St James’s Palace, until 1992. He then spent three years working in Kolkata, India, as Chief Restorer of the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust’s programme of conservation and education in the Victoria Memorial Hall, leading an international team of paintings and paper conservators. Returning to the United Kingdom, he rejoined the Royal Collection in 1995, becoming Manager of the Windsor Conservation Studio in 1999 and Senior Paintings Conservator in 2002. He was appointed Director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute, and Assistant Director, Conservation, at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in 2008.
