Religion

For as long as people have been making images, religious belief has been one of their chief motivations.

The Fitzwilliam contains works produced by and for many different religions and in this section you can see examples of these: a beautiful glass mosque lamp, a 10th century BC Egyptian Book of the Dead, a relief depicting an ancient Assyrian deity.

Much of the religious art in the Fitzwilliam Museum is Christian and you can find out here about works by some of the most gifted artists to have worked in the service of the Church: Simone Martini, Domenico Veneziano, Michelangelo, Annibale Carracci. Many of the works shown in this section were produced to be actively used in Christian worship: painted altarpieces, illuminated books, an enamelled reliquary.