CASE STUDY

As one of the central historic Colleges of Cambridge University, I had always enjoyed drawing the Mathematical Bridge, Cloister Court and the Sundial.

Several years ago, I was invited to create an artistic portrait of the College by the College. This allowed me a privileged access to all parts of the College including the Master lodge, the historic library and the other areas not accessible to visitors.

After a month of work I produced more than 50 pencil drawings in A3 format of views and details of the college. More than 20 were chosen and bought by the development Office to be presented to donors and alumni. A selection of the smaller sketches were assembled into a calendar for year 2007.

Sets of greeting cards were produced and as well prints in amount (complete with the College’s name and crest in gold) and framed, presented in a dedicated gift box.
Special event cards and envelopes of different dimensions with college views completed this artistic collaboration.

Some of these products are still available to buy in the College Shop.

Queens' College

Queens’ College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens’ is one of the 16 “old colleges” of the university. Its buildings span the River Cam with the Mathematical Bridge and Silver Street connecting the two sides. Queens’ College was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou and refounded in 1465 by the rival queen Elizabeth Woodville. This dual foundation is reflected in its orthography: Queens’, not Queen’s, although the full name is “The Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens’ College, in the University of Cambridge”

In 1446 Andrew Dokett obtained a charter from Henry VI to found St Bernard’s College, on a site now part of St Catharine’s College. A year later the charter was revoked and Dokett obtained a new charter from the king to found St Bernard’s College on the present site of Old Court and Cloister Court. In 1448 Queen Margaret received from her husband, King Henry VI, the lands of St Bernard’s College to build a new college to be called “Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard”. On 15 April 1448, Sir John Wenlock, chamberlain to Queen Margaret, laid the foundation stone at the south-east corner of the chapel.

By 1460 the library, chapel, gatehouse and President’s Lodge were completed and the chapel licensed for service. In the early 17th century Queens’ had become a very fashionable college for the gentry and aristocracy, especially for those with more Puritan leanings.

In 1823, the spelling of the college’s name officially changed from Queen’s to Queens’. The earliest known record of the Queens’ College Boat Club dates from 1831.

In 1980, the college for the first time allowed females to matriculate as members, with the first female members of the college graduating in 1983. The President’s Lodge of Queens’ is the oldest building on the river at Cambridge (ca. 14600.

The President’s Lodge is part of Cloister Court: the Cloister walks were erected in the 1490s to connect the Old Court of 1448/9 with the riverside buildings of the 1460s, thus forming the court now known as Cloister Court.

The Old Library was built in 1448, part of Old Court, and situated between the President’s Lodge and the original chapel. It is one of the earliest purpose-built libraries in Cambridge. It houses a collection of nearly 20,000 manuscripts and printed books. It is especially notable because nearly all printed books remain in their original bindings, because Queens’ has never been wealthy enough to afford re-binding all the books in a uniform manner, as was the fashion in the 18th century. It is also notable because it contains the earliest English celestial globes, owned once by Queens’ fellow of mathematics Sir Thomas Smith (1513–1577), and because its medieval lecterns were refashioned into bookshelves, still present today.

The Mathematical Bridge (officially named the Wooden Bridge) crosses the River Cam and connects the older half of the college (affectionately referred to by students as the “dark side”) with the newer western half (the “light side”, officially known as “The Island”).

The bridge was built of oak in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722–1784) to the design of the master carpenter William Etheridge (1709–1776). The first known sundial at the present location in Old Court was erected May–July 1642, it was supplanted at an College alumni include Desiderius Erasmus, who studied at the college during his trips to England between 1506 and 1515. The college’s first Nobel prize winner is Sir Demis Hassabis who received this award in 2024 for developing artificial intelligence models.