The Goodison Gift of Contemporary British Crafts to the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

'From its origins with the Founder’s bequest in 1816, The Fitzwilliam Museum’s rich collections of fine and decorative arts have grown through the scholarship and philanthropy of private collectors… The succession of gifts from Nicholas and Judith Goodison […] attests to their generosity, imagination and discerning eye, and highlights the continuity of this tradition of philanthropy in Cambridge.' [1] Sir Nicholas Goodison’s connection with Cambridge is a longstanding one. During his time studying Classics as an undergraduate of King’s College, the Fitzwilliam Museum was a ‘place of pilgrimage’. [2] Nicholas was particularly struck by the display of clocks, including Thomas Tompion’s impressive Drayton House clock, given to the Museum in 1947 by Ernest Prestige, a collector known to Nicholas through his family. [3] Subsequent visits to Prestige’s home led Nicholas to his early studies in barometers, furniture and decorative art. However, this contact with a collector proved important in pre-empting the philanthropy to come, bringing home to Nicholas, ‘the connection between the private collector and the museum.’ [4]N/