Colour: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

The Crusades have been blamed for many things, but one of their gifts to civilisation has gone largely unnoticed. By opening up trade routes with the Middle East and Central Asia, they opened Western eyes to a new world of colour. The dazzling effect on the history of art is revealed in an exhibition (until 30 December) marking the Fitzwilliam Museum’s bicentenary and culmination of a four-year research project into the manuscripts that formed part of Viscount Fitzwilliam’s founding collection.