The celebrated Mr Belzoni: A cultural gift to the Fitzwilliam

This in-focus exhibition is centred on a new acquisition: Jan Adam Kruseman’s posthumous portrait of the celebrated adventurer, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, known as ‘The Great Belzoni’. Painted in 1824, and presented to the Museum in 2018 through the Arts Council’s Cultural Gift Scheme (in honour of ex‐Director, Tim Knox), the portrait will be displayed alongside paintings and watercolours from the Fitzwilliam’s wider collections, which reflect the allure of Egypt and Egyptian antiquities to British artists of the 19th century. Part of the exhibition will focus on the extraordinary person of Belzoni, his commercial interest in ancient Egypt, and his extraordinary gift to the Fitzwilliam in 1823 of the sarcophagus lid of Ramesses III.

Image: Jan Adam Kruseman (1804-1862), The Great Belzoni