Editing Ashmolean Museum

{{short description|Art museum in Oxford, United Kingdom}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox museum
 |name          = Ashmolean Museum
 |image         = Ashmolean Museum in July 2014.jpg
 |image_upright = 1.25
 |caption       = Front [[façade]] of the museum
 |established   = {{Start date and age|1683|df=yes}}
 |pushpin_map   = United Kingdom Oxford Central
 |coordinates   = {{coord|51.7554|-1.2600|display=inline,title}}
 |map_caption   = Location in [[Oxford]]
  | mapframe = yes
  | mapframe-zoom = 14
  | mapframe-caption= Interactive fullscreen map
  | mapframe-marker = museum
  | mapframe-wikidata = yes
 |dissolved     =
 |location      = [[Beaumont Street]], [[Oxford]], [[England]] 
 |type          = University Museum of [[Art]] and [[Archaeology]]
 |visitors      = 930,669 (2019)<ref name="ALVA 2019 visitor numbers">{{cite web| title=ALVA – Association of Leading Visitor Attractions | url=https://www.alva.org.uk/details.cfm?p=423 | website=alva.org.uk | access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref>
 |director      = [[Alexander Sturgis]]
 |curator       =
 |publictransit =
 |website       = {{URL|www.ashmolean.org}}
}}
The '''Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|ʃ|ˈ|m|oʊ|l|i|ən|,_|ˌ|æ|ʃ|m|ə|ˈ|l|iː|ən}})<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ashmolean-museum|title=Ashmolean Museum|work=Collins English Dictionary|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|access-date=24 May 2019}}</ref> on [[Beaumont Street]] in [[Oxford]], England, is Britain's first public museum.<ref>MacGregor, A. (2001). ''The Ashmolean Museum. A brief history of the museum and its collections.'' Ashmolean Museum & Jonathan Horne Publications, London.</ref> Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the [[cabinet of curiosities]] that [[Elias Ashmole]] gave to the [[University of Oxford]] in 1677. It is also the world's second [[university museum]], after the establishment of the [[Kunstmuseum Basel]] in 1661 by the [[University of Basel]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/collection/history|title=History of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel|website=kunstmuseumbasel.ch}}</ref>

The present building was built between 1841 and 1845. The museum reopened in 2009 after a major redevelopment, and in November 2011, new galleries focusing on [[Egypt]] and [[Nubia]] were unveiled. In May 2016, the museum redisplayed galleries of 19th-century art.

==History==

===Broad Street===
The museum opened on 24 May 1683,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/primary-documents/primary-documents-ashmolean-museum.html |title=Ashmolean Museum |publisher=[[Pitt Rivers Museum]] |language=en-gb |access-date=22 May 2018 }}</ref> with [[natural history|naturalist]] [[Robert Plot]] as the first keeper. The building on [[Broad Street, Oxford|Broad Street]] (later known as the [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Old Ashmolean]]) is sometimes attributed to [[Christopher Wren|Sir Christopher Wren]] or Thomas Wood.<ref>{{cite journal|editor=Salter, H. E.|editor2=Lobel, Mary D. |title=Victoria County History |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63866 |journal=A History of the County of Oxford|volume= 3|date= 1954 |pages= 47–49}}</ref> [[Elias Ashmole]] had acquired the collection from the gardeners, travellers, and collectors [[John Tradescant the Elder]] and his son, [[John Tradescant the Younger]]. It included antique coins, books, engravings, geological specimens, and zoological specimens—one of which was the stuffed body of the last [[dodo]] ever seen in Europe; but by 1755 the stuffed dodo was so moth-eaten that it was destroyed, except for its head and one claw.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryson |first1=Bill |title=A Short History of Nearly Everything |date=2003 |publisher=Broadway Books, Random House, Inc. |location=New York |isbn=0-7679-0818-X |page=470 |edition=1st |quote=In 1755, some seventy years after the last dodo's death, the director of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford decided that the institution's stuffed dodo was becoming unpleasantly musty and ordered it tossed on a bonfire. This was a surprising decision as it was by this time the only dodo in existence, stuffed or otherwise. A passing employee, aghast, tried to rescue the bird but could save only its head and part of one limb.}}</ref>

===Beaumont Street===

[[File:Ashmolean Museum and Taylorian Institute, Oxford; panoramic Wellcome V0014258.jpg|thumb|Wood-engraving of the Ashmolean {{Circa|1845}}]]

The present building dates from 1841 to 1845. It was designed as the University Galleries by [[Charles Robert Cockerell|Charles Cockerell]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Alden's Oxford Guide|location= Oxford|publisher= Alden & Company|date= 1946|page= 105}}</ref> in a [[Classicism|classical]] style and stands on Beaumont Street. One wing of the building is occupied by the [[Taylor Institution]], the modern languages faculty of the university, standing on the corner of Beaumont Street and St Giles' Street. This wing of the building was also designed by Charles Cockerell, using the [[Ionic order]] of Greek architecture.<ref>{{cite book|title=Alden's Oxford Guide|location= Oxford|publisher= Alden & Company|date= 1946|page= 103}}</ref>
 
[[Arthur Evans|Sir Arthur Evans]], who was appointed keeper in 1884 and retired in 1908, is largely responsible for the current museum.<ref>Evans, Joan. Time and Chance: The story of Arthur Evans and his forebears. London, Longmans, 1943.</ref> Evans found that the keeper and the vice-chancellor ([[Benjamin Jowett]]) had managed to lose half of the Ashmole collection and had converted the original building into the Examination Rooms. [[Charles Drury Edward Fortnum]] had offered to donate his personal collection of antiques on condition that the museum was put on a sound footing.<ref name="Brief History">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=Arthur |title=The Ashmolean Museum: A Brief History of the Museum and Its Collections |date=2001 |publisher=Ashmolean Museum Oxford |location=Oxford |page=56 }}</ref> A donation of £10,000 from Fortnum (£{{formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|10000|1894|r=-3}}|1}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}) enabled Evans to build an extension to the University Galleries and move the Ashmolean collection there in 1894. In 1908, the Ashmolean and the University Galleries were combined as the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology.<ref>[https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Ashmolean_Museum.pdf "The Ashmolean Museum Oxford Conservation Plan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602071939/https://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/estatesservices/documents/conservation/Ashmolean_Museum.pdf |date=2 June 2020 }}. admin.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 24 August 2018.</ref> The museum became a depository for some of the important archaeological finds from Evans' excavations in Crete.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

After the various specimens had been moved into new museums, the "Old Ashmolean" building was used as office space for the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Since 1924, the building has been established as the [[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Museum of the History of Science]], with exhibitions including the scientific instruments given to Oxford University by [[Lewis Evans (collector)|Lewis Evans]], amongst them the world's largest collection of [[astrolabe]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Johnston |first1=Stephen |title=Astrolabes in Medieval Jewish Society |url=http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research/projects/jewish-astrolabes/ |website=The Warburg Institute |publisher=University of London, School of Advanced Study |access-date=5 November 2015 |quote=The Museum of the History of Science in Oxford has the world's largest collection of astrolabes. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128084038/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research/projects/jewish-astrolabes |archive-date=28 November 2015 }}</ref>

[[Charles Buller Heberden]] left £1,000 (£{{formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|1000|1921|r=-3}}|3}} as of {{CURRENTYEAR}}) to the university in 1921, which was used for the Coin Room at the museum.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kraay, C. M.|author2=Sutherland, C. H. V.|name-list-style=amp|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/documents/HCRhistory.pdf|title=The Heberden Coin Room: Origin and Development|publisher=Ashmolean Museum|location=Oxford|date=1972|edition=Revised 1989 and 2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103114708/http://www.ashmolean.org/documents/HCRhistory.pdf|archive-date=3 November 2006}}</ref>

In 2012, the Ashmolean was awarded a grant of $1.1m by the [[Andrew W. Mellon Foundation]] to establish the [[Ashmolean Museum University Engagement Programme|University Engagement Programme]] or UEP. The programme employs three teaching curators and a programme director to develop the use of the museum's collections in the teaching and research of the university.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=179|website= Ashmolean.org|title=News|access-date=8 October 2013}}</ref>

===Renovations===
[[File:Ashmolean Museum Atrium Oxford 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|The museum's renovated central atrium in 2009]]
The interior of the Ashmolean has been extensively modernised during the early 21st century and now includes a restaurant and large gift shop.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/eating/ |title=Eating and Shopping- Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |date=15 April 2012 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-date=16 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120516095009/http://www.ashmolean.org/eating/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2000, the Chinese Picture Gallery, designed by [[van Heyningen and Haward Architects]], opened at the entrance of the Ashmolean and is partly integrated into the structure. It was inserted into a lightwell in the Grade I listed building and was designed to support future construction from its roof. Apart from the original Cockerell spaces, this gallery was the only part of the museum retained in the rebuilding. The gallery houses the Ashmolean's own collection and is also used from time to time for the display of loan exhibitions and works by contemporary Chinese artists. It is the only museum gallery in Britain devoted to Chinese paintings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vhh.co.uk/projects/ash.htm |title=Chinese Painting Gallery, Ashmolean Museum – van Heyningen and Haward Architects |publisher=Vhh.co.uk |access-date=17 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527221055/http://www.vhh.co.uk/projects/ash.htm |archive-date=27 May 2014 }}</ref>

The [[Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library]] (formerly the [[Sackler Library]]), incorporating the older library collections of the Ashmolean, opened in 2001 and has allowed an expansion of the book collection, which concentrates on classical civilization, archaeology, and art history.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Park |first=Emma |title=Ashes to Ashmolean |url=http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/ashes-to-ashmolean/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313130946/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/ashes-to-ashmolean/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=13 March 2010 |work=Oxonian Review of Books |date=9 November 2009 |access-date=6 December 2009}}</ref>

Between 2006 and 2009, the museum was expanded to the designs of architect [[Rick Mather]] and the exhibition design company [[Metaphor (designers)|Metaphor]], supported by the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]]. The $98.2&nbsp;million<ref name="artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com">{{cite news|author=Vogel, Carol |date=20 June 2013| url= http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/director-of-ashmolean-museum-at-oxford-to-step-down/|title= Director of Ashmolean Museum at Oxford to Step Down|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> rebuilding resulted in five floors instead of three, with a doubling of the display space, as well as new conservation studios and an education centre.<ref>''The galleries are quirky and unpredictable, full of nooks and crannies and yet completely navigable even to the dyspraxically challenged, like me. That's as much to do with the layout by the exhibition designers Metaphor as with the architecture.'' {{Cite news|last=Dorment |first=Richard |title=The reopening of The Ashmolean, review |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/6487538/The-reopening-of-The-Ashmolean-review.html |work=Telegraph |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=2 November 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091105231033/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/6487538/The-reopening-of-The-Ashmolean-review.html| archive-date= 5 November 2009 | url-status= live | location=London}}</ref> The renovated museum re-opened on 7 November 2009.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Ashmolean Museum opens to public |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8347299.stm |work=BBC News |date=7 November 2009 |access-date=8 November 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091108143936/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8347299.stm| archive-date= 8 November 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/2009/ |title=Transforming: Transformed- Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |access-date=20 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527213326/http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/2009/ |archive-date=27 May 2014  }}</ref>

On 26 November 2011, the Ashmolean opened to the public the new galleries of [[Ancient Egypt]] and [[Nubia]]. This second phase of major redevelopment now allows the museum to exhibit objects that have been in storage for decades, more than doubling the number of coffins and mummies on display. The project received lead support from [[David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville|Lord Sainsbury's Linbury Trust]], along with the Selz Foundation, Mr. Christian Levett, as well as other trusts, foundations, and individuals. Rick Mather Architects led the redesign and display of the four previous Egypt galleries and the extension to the restored Ruskin Gallery, previously occupied by the museum shop.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/egypt/ |title=Transforming: Egypt – Ashmolean Museum |publisher=Ashmolean.org |date=26 November 2011 |access-date=20 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018052320/http://www.ashmolean.org/transforming/egypt/ |archive-date=18 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In May 2016, the museum opened new galleries dedicated to the display of its collection of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] art.<ref name="News & Events">{{cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=375&s=Burges|title=News & Events}}</ref> This development allowed for the return to the Ashmolean of the [[Great Bookcase]], designed by [[William Burges]], and described as "the most important example of Victorian painted furniture ever made."<ref name="News & Events"/>

==Collections==
[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - Rive des Esclavons.jpg|thumb|''Rive des Esclavons'', by [[Joseph Mallord William Turner|J. M. W. Turner]], {{Circa|1840}}]]
[[File:Ägyptischer Maler um 1360 v. Chr. 002.jpg|thumb|Detail from a fragment of wall painting depicting [[Akhenaten]] and [[Nefertiti]] with their daughters]]
[[File:Taichi arch 8124242.JPG|thumb|upright|''Taichi Arch'' on the museum's forecourt, a sculpture by the artist [[Ju Ming]]]]

The main museum contains huge collections of [[archaeology|archaeological]] specimens and fine art. It has one of the best collections of [[Pre-Raphaelite]] paintings, [[Maiolica|majolica]] pottery, and English silver. The archaeology department includes the bequest of [[Arthur Evans]] and so has a collection of [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] pottery. The department also has an extensive collection of antiquities from [[Ancient Egypt]] and the [[Early history of Sudan|Sudan]], and the museum hosts the [[Griffith Institute]] for the advancement of [[Egyptology]].

Highlights of the Ashmolean's collection include:

* Drawings by [[Michelangelo]], [[Raffaello Santi|Raphael]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]
* Paintings by [[Pablo Picasso]], [[Giambattista Pittoni]], [[Paolo Uccello]], [[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Peter Paul Rubens]], [[Paul Cézanne]], [[John Constable]], [[Titian]], [[Claude Lorrain]], [[Samuel Palmer]], [[John Singer Sargent]], [[Piero di Cosimo]], [[William Holman Hunt]], and [[Edward Burne-Jones]]
* The [[Alfred Jewel]]
* Watercolours and paintings by [[J. M. W. Turner]]
* The [[Messiah Stradivarius]], a violin made by [[Antonio Stradivari]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/messiah-violin-stradivari|title=Messiah Violin by Stradivari  {{!}} Ashmolean Museum|website=www.ashmolean.org|access-date=2019-05-24}}</ref>
* The [[Daisy Linda Ward]] bequest in 1939 of 96 still life paintings, including works by [[Clara Peeters]], [[Adriaen Coorte]], and [[Rachel Ruysch]]
* The Pissarro Family Archive, donated in the 1950s to the Ashmolean, consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, books, and letters by [[Camille Pissarro]], [[Lucien Pissarro]], [[Orovida Camille Pissarro]], and other members of the Pissarro family<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/departments/westernart/printroom/collections/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref> 
* Arab ceremonial dress owned by [[Lawrence of Arabia]]
* A death mask of [[Oliver Cromwell]]
* The [[Crondall hoard]], a rare set of [[Anglo-Saxon]] gold coins discovered in 1828
* A substantial number of [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]], including [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament]] [[biblical manuscripts]]
* Over 30 pieces of Late Roman [[gold glass]] roundels from the [[Catacombs of Rome]], the [[Wilshere Collection]] is the third largest collection after the Vatican and British Museum.<ref>Vickers, Michael, "The Wilshere Collection of Early Christian and Jewish Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford," ''Miscellanea a Emilio Marin Sexagenario Dicata'', Kacic, 41–43 (2009–2011), pp. 605–614, [http://www.franjevci-split.hr/pdf/35_vickers.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019105411/http://www.franjevci-split.hr/pdf/35_vickers.pdf |date=19 October 2017 }}. Vickers describes the whole collection, on loan to the museum from [[Pusey House]] until bought in 2007. The glass is described at 609–613</ref>
* A collection of [[Posie ring]]s.
* An extensive collection of antiquities from [[Prehistoric Egypt]] and the succeeding [[Early Dynastic Period of Egypt]]
* The [[Parian Chronicle|Parian Marble]], the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table
* The [[Metrological Relief]], showing [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] measurements
* The ceremonial cloak of [[Chief Powhatan]]
* The [[lantern]] that [[Gunpowder Plot]] conspirator [[Guy Fawkes]] carried in 1605
* The [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] collection of [[Arthur Evans]], the biggest outside [[Crete]]
* The [[Narmer Macehead]] and [[Scorpion Macehead]]
* The [[Kish tablet]]s
* The [[Sumerian King List|Sumerian Kings List]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/sumerian-king-list|title=Sumerian King List {{!}} Ashmolean Museum|website=www.ashmolean.org|access-date=2019-05-24}}</ref>
* Near Eastern (mainly [[Cuneiform|cunaiform]]) tablets collection, second largest in the UK;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Search results |url=https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/search?collection=Ashmolean+Museum,+Oxford,+UK |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=CDLI |language=en-US}}</ref> mainly recovered by the Oxford-Field Museum Expedition to [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], [[Iraq]] (1923-1933)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK - Collections |url=https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/collections/1418 |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=CDLI |language=en-US}}</ref>
* The sole surviving [[Pococke Kition inscriptions|Pococke Kition inscription]], used by [[Jean-Jacques Barthélemy]] in his decipherment of the Phoenician language
* The [[Abingdon Sword]], an Anglo-Saxon sword found at [[Abingdon-on-Thames|Abingdon]] south of Oxford
* The Dalboki hoard of Thracian artefacts, central Bulgaria
* The Scythian antiquities from Nymphaeum, Crimea
* The [[Shrine of Taharqa]]
Recent major bequests and acquisitions include:
* In 2017 the museum acquired a group portrait by [[William Dobson]] painted in Oxford around 1645, during the [[English Civil War]]. The group in the painting are [[Prince Rupert]], [[William Legge (Royalist)|Colonel William Legge]] (Governor of Oxford) and [[John Russell (Royalist)|Colonel John Russell]] (commander of the prince's elite Blue Coats). The painting was acquired for the nation through the [[Acceptance in Lieu]] scheme, administered by [[Arts Council England]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Ashmolean acquires great Civil War portrait by William Dobson|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=435|work=Ashmolean Museum Website|access-date=18 May 2017|date=15 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=New Ashmolean portrait by William Dobson reveals Oxford's civil war role|url=http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/15287396.Ashmolean_portrait_reveals_Oxford__39_s_civil_war_role/|work=Oxford Times Website|access-date=18 May 2017|date=16 May 2017}}</ref>
* In 2017 the museum acquired a [[Viking]] hoard that was discovered near [[Watlington, Oxfordshire|Watlington]] in South [[Oxfordshire]] in 2015. It is the first large Viking hoard discovered in Oxfordshire, which once lay on the border of [[Wessex]] and [[Mercia]]. The hoard contains over 200 [[Anglo-Saxon]] coins, including many examples of previously rare coins of [[Alfred the Great]], King of Wessex (871–899) and his less well-known contemporary, [[Ceolwulf II of Mercia|King Ceolwulf II of Mercia]] (874–879).<ref>{{cite news|title=Funds raised to acquire the Hoard of King Alfred|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=421|work=Ashmolean Museum Website|access-date=23 February 2017|date=1 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Watlington hoard Relics purchased for £1.35m by Ashmolean Museum|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-38830618|work=BBC News Website|access-date=23 February 2017|date=1 February 2017}}</ref>
* In 2015 the Ashmolean raised the money needed to acquire a major painting by [[J. M. W. Turner]]. With lead support from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]], a grant from the [[Art Fund]], and a public appeal, the fundraising target was met to secure Turner's only full-size townscape in oils: ''The High Street, Oxford'' (1810). The painting was accepted by the nation through the [[Acceptance in Lieu]] scheme.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/index.php?id=315|title=Ashmolean has raised the money needed to acquire a major painting by JMW Turner |date=6 July 2015 |access-date=6 July 2015}}</ref>
* In October 2014 the Ashmolean acquired a painting by [[John Constable]] titled ''Willy Lott's House from the Stour'' (The Valley Farm). The painting was accepted by the nation through the [[Acceptance in Lieu]] scheme. The farm building depicted in the painting is also seen from a different angle in ''[[The Hay Wain]]'', painted 1821 and now at the [[National Gallery]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/28/john-constable-painting-transferred-public-ownership-lieu-1-million-tax|title=John Constable painting transferred to public ownership in lieu of £1m tax|date=28 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29800521|title=Constable painting donated to the nation |date=28 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=253|title=Ashmolean acquires painting by John Constable|date=28 October 2014 |access-date=29 October 2014}}</ref>
* In October 2014 the Ashmolean acquired a collection of historic [[English embroidery|English embroideries]] which was given to the museum by collectors Micheál and Elizabeth Feller. The gift comprises 61 pieces which span the whole of the seventeenth century.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxford/11499489.Museum_gets_hooks_into_butcher___s___500k_collection/|title=Museum_gets_hooks_into_butcher's_500k_collection |date=27 September 2014 |access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/news/index.php?id=251|title=Ashmolean acquires Feller collection of English Embroidery |date=29 September 2014 |access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref>
* In late 2013, art historian and collector [[Michael Sullivan (art historian)|Michael Sullivan]] bequeathed his collection of more than 400 works of art to the museum. The collection, which includes paintings by Chinese masters [[Qi Baishi]], [[Zhang Daqian]], and [[Wu Guanzhong]], was considered one of the world's most significant collections of modern Chinese art. The museum has a gallery dedicated to Sullivan and his wife Khoan.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25362579 |title=Ashmolean acquires major Chinese art collection |newspaper=BBC |date=13 December 2013 |access-date=24 January 2014}}</ref>
* In 2013 the museum was given the sculpture ''Taichi Arch'' by Taiwanese artist [[Ju Ming]], which was installed on the museum's main forecourt. It was given to the museum by the Juming Culture and Education Foundation in memory of art historian and collector [[Michael Sullivan (art historian)|Michael Sullivan]].<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.ashmolean.org/news/?id=227|title=Ashmolean Acquires Monumental Sculpture |date=15 November 2013 |access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref>
* In 2012 the museum was left a 500-piece collection of gold and silver [[objet d'art|objets d'art]], including many pieces of Renaissance silverware, assembled by the antique dealer Michael Welby.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/metalwork-jewellery-and-watches|title=Metalwork, Jewellery and Watches {{!}} Ashmolean Museum|website=www.ashmolean.org|access-date=2019-05-24}}</ref><ref name="GuardJan">{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/jan/31/ashmolean-museum-oxford-gold|title=Ashmolean museum in Oxford bequeathed £10m hoard|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| access-date=1 February 2013|location=London|first=Maev|last=Kennedy|date=31 January 2013}}</ref>
* In 2012 the museum acquired [[Édouard Manet]]'s ''Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus'', painted in 1868, after a public campaign to raise £7.83million while a temporary export bar was placed on it by the [[Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art|RCEWA]] The campaign received £5.9m from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]], and a grant of £850,000 from [[The Art Fund]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Manet portrait of Mademoiselle Claus stays in Oxford|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-19164978|work=BBC News Website|access-date=4 March 2014|date=8 August 2012}}</ref>

==Collections gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:William Holman Hunt - London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales - 1864.jpg|''[[London Bridge on the Night of the Marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales]]'', 1864 by [[William Holman Hunt]]
File:BrightonPierrotsWalterSickert.jpg|''The [[Brighton Pierrots]]'', 1915, by [[Walter Sickert]]
File:Alfred Jewel Ashmolean 2014.JPG|The [[Alfred Jewel]]
File:Edward Burne-Jones, ‘Music’, 1877. Oil on canvas.jpg|''Music'', 1877, by [[Edward Burne-Jones]]
File:Ceremonial Palette from Hierakonpolis-2.jpg|The "[[Oxford Palette|Two Dog Palette]]" from [[Hierakonpolis]]
File:Messiah Stradivarius.jpg|The [[Messiah Stradivarius]] violin
File:Edouard Manet - Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus.jpg|''Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus'', by [[Édouard Manet]]
File:Narmer Macehead.png|The [[Narmer Macehead]]
File:Raffaello, studio per la trasfigurazione 02.jpg|''Studies of the Heads of two Apostles and of their Hands'', by [[Raphael]]
File:Paolo Uccello - The Hunt in the Forest - WGA23239.jpg|''[[The Hunt in the Forest]]'' by [[Paolo Uccello]]
File:Sobek Oxford.jpg|Statue of [[Sobek]], the crocodile god, from the pyramid temple of [[Amenemhat III]]
File:Leighton, Frederic - Acme and Septimius - c. 1868.jpg|''Acme and Septimius'', {{Circa|1868}}, by [[Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton]]
File:The Sumerian King List, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.jpg|The [[Sumerian King List|Sumerian Kings List]], dating to approximately 1800 BC
File:0 Gemma Tiberiana - Rubens - Ashmolean Museum - WA1989.74.JPG|The ''Apotheosis of Germanicus'', a copy after an antique Cameo painted in 1626 by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]
File:Oliver Cromwell death mask- Ashmolean Museum.jpg|A death mask of [[Oliver Cromwell]]
File:Millais - Die Rückkehr der Taube zur Arche Noah.jpg|''[[The Return of the Dove to the Ark]]'', 1851, by Sir [[John Everett Millais]]
File:Tragic mask dating to the 1st century BC or 1st century AD, Ashmolean Museum (8400677139).jpg|A Greek tragic mask dating to the 1st century BC or 1st century AD.
File:Jeanne Holding a Fan, c.1874, by Camille Pissarro. Oil on canvas, The Ashmolean Museum,.jpg|''Jeanne Holding a Fan'', an oil on canvas painting by [[Camille Pissarro]], {{Circa|1874}}
File:Heilige Familie mit dem Johannesknaben (Ashmolean Museum).jpg|''The Holy Family with St John the Baptist'', brush and brown wash on panel by [[Michelangelo]]
File:Tombstone, the doctor Claudius Agathemerus and his wife Myrtale, from Rome, about AD 100, Ashmolean Museum (8401778336).jpg|Tombstone, the doctor Claudius Agathemerus and his wife Myrtale, from Rome, about AD 100
File:Millais Ruskin.jpg|''Portrait of [[John Ruskin]]'' by [[John Everett Millais]]
File:Powhatan's mantle, lithography 1888.jpg|The Mantle of [[Chief Powhatan]], dating to the 17th century
File:Abingdon Sword 2014.JPG|The [[Abingdon Sword]], dating from the late 9th or early 10th century
File:Paolo uccello, annunciazione, ashmolean.jpg|''The Annunciation'', attributed to [[Paolo Uccello]]
File:Van Gogh - Das Restaurant de la Sirène in Asnières.jpeg|''Restaurant de la Sirène, Asnières'', by [[Vincent van Gogh]]
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 029.jpg|''A Garden in Montmartre'' by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]]
File:Young Englishwoman, costume study by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|''Young Englishwoman'', a costume study by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]
File:Samuel Palmer - Self-Portrait - WGA16951.jpg|A ''self-portrait'' by [[Samuel Palmer]]
File:Domitianus II obverse ashmolean (edited).JPG|A coin of [[Domitianus II]]
File:Ashmolean Museum (8401780654).jpg|Egyptian Mummy Portrait
File:Pinturicchio Virgen con niño Ashmolean Museum.jpg|''The Virgin and Child'', by [[Bernardino Pintoricchio]]
File:Cycladic figurine female, 2800–2300 BC, AshmoleanM, AE 178, 142426.jpg|Early [[Bronze Age]] [[Cycladic art]] figurine, 2800–2300 BC.
File:Tableta con trillo.png|The [[Kish tablet]] cast
File:Guyfawkeslantern.jpg|[[Guy Fawkes]]' Lantern, London, England {{Circa|1605}} Iron and horn
File:Phoenician funerary inscription AN1974.325.jpg|The sole surviving [[Pococke Kition inscriptions|Pococke Kition inscription]], used by [[Jean-Jacques Barthélemy]] in his decipherment of the Phoenician language

</gallery>

==Arundel Marbles==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
Image:So-called Cicero excavated by the Earl of Arundel in Rome between 1613 and 1614 MH.jpg|So-called Cicero excavated by the Earl of Arundel in Rome between 1613 and 1614
Image:Closeup of So-called Cicero excavated by the Earl of Arundel in Rome between 1613 and 1614 MH.jpg|So-called Cicero excavated by the Earl of Arundel in Rome between 1613 and 1614
Image:Man wearing a toga excavated in Rome 1613-1614 and later given the name "Caius Marius" MH.jpg|Man wearing a toga excavated in Rome 1613–1614 and later given the name "Caius Marius"
Image:First century CE togate torso bearing a 17th century CE head dubbed Caius Marius by the Earl of Arundel excavated in 1613-1614 CE MH.jpg|First century CE togate torso bearing a 17th-century CE head dubbed Caius Marius by the Earl of Arundel excavated in 1613–1614 CE
Image:Statue of a woman with hairstyle dating to the later Roman Republican or Augustan period but body dating to 200-100 BCE MH.jpg|Statue of a woman with hairstyle dating to the later Roman Republican or Augustan period but body dating to 200–100 BCE
Image:Closeup of Statue of a woman with hairstyle dating to the later Roman Republican or Augustan period but body dating to 200-100 BCE MH.jpg|Closeup of Statue of a woman with hairstyle dating to the later Roman Republican or Augustan period but body dating to 200–100 BCE
Image:The Oxford Bust or "Sappho" with head and torso coming from different statues and probably put together by a sculptor in the 1600s MH.jpg|The Oxford Bust or "Sappho" with head and torso coming from different statues and probably put together by a sculptor in the 1600s
Image:The Oxford Bust or "Sappho" with head and torso coming from different statues and probably put together by a sculptor in the 1600s View 2 MH.jpg|The Oxford Bust or "Sappho" with head and torso coming from different statues and probably put together by a sculptor in the 1600s View 2
Image:Portrait of a young man with hairstyle, facial features and long neck pointing to portraits made in the early 100s CE MH.jpg|Portrait of a young man with hairstyle, facial features and long neck pointing to portraits made in the early 100s CE
Image:Sphinx commissioned by the Earl of Arundel to partner a Roman Sphinx, 17th century CE MH.jpg|Sphinx commissioned by the Earl of Arundel to partner a Roman Sphinx, 17th century CE
Image:Sphinx, Roman, 50-200 CE Arundel Marble MH.jpg|Sphinx, Roman, 50–200 CE.
Image:Roman statue of Eros, 100-200 CE Arundel Marble MH.jpg|Roman statue of Eros, 100–200 CE depicting Eros sleeping,  his torch turned down, a symbol of death used in many Roman memorials.
Image:Closeup of Roman statue of Eros, 100-200 CE Arundel Marble MH.jpg|Closeup of Roman statue of Eros, 100–200 CE depicting Eros sleeping,  his torch turned down, a symbol of death used in many Roman memorials.
Image:Fragment of a marble sarcophagus depicting two drunken boys from a Bacchic revel, made in Athens 140-150 CE MH.jpg|Fragment of a marble sarcophagus depicting two drunken boys from a Bacchic revel, made in Athens 140–150 CE
</gallery>

==Broadway Museum and Art Gallery==
In 2013 a museum was opened in the 17th-century "Tudor House"  at [[Broadway, Worcestershire]], in the Cotswolds, in partnership with the Ashmolean Museum. In 2017 the museum became known as the Broadway Museum and Art Gallery. The collection includes paintings and furniture from the founding collections of the Ashmolean Museum, given by Elias Ashmole to the University of Oxford in 1683, and local exhibits expand upon elements of the timeline of the village.<ref>{{cite web|title=Broadway Museum website|url=http://broadwaymuseum.org.uk/|access-date=23 February 2017|date=1 February 2017}}</ref>

==Major exhibitions==

Upcoming planned exhibitions include:

* '''''Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth and Reality''''': This exhibition opened at the Ashmolean in February 2023 and will be open until late July 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ashmolean Membership - Upcoming Exhibitions|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/membership|access-date=2022-08-23|website=www.ashmolean.org|language=en}}</ref>

Major exhibitions in recent years include:
* '''''Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours''''': This exhibition, initially shown for 5 weeks in 2021, was re-mounted in 2022 for a longer run, opening in July. It is drawn from the Ashmolean's own collection of [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] drawings and watercolours.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours Press Release|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelites-drawings-and-watercolours|access-date=2022-08-23|website=www.ashmolean.org|language=en}}</ref>
* '''''Pissarro: Father of Impressionism''''': Open from February until June 2022, this exhibition included artworks drawn from the Ashmolean's collections as well as international loans, spanning [[Camille Pissarro]]'s entire career.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pissarro: Father of Impressionism Exhibition |url=https://www.ashmolean.org/pissarro |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=www.ashmolean.org |language=en}}</ref>
* '''''Tokyo: Art and Photography''''': Open from July 2021 until January 2022, this exhibition included artworks from the Ashmolean's collection as well as loans from Japan and new commissions by contemporary artists. It included woodblock prints by [[Hokusai]] and [[Hiroshige]], photography of [[Daidō Moriyama|Moriyama Daido]] and [[Mika Ninagawa|Ninagawa Mika]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=New Exhibition Schedule|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/article/2021-exhibition-listings|access-date=2021-09-01|website=www.ashmolean.org|language=en}}</ref>
*'''''Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours''''': Open in May and June 2021, this exhibition was drawn from the Ashmolean's own collection of [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] drawings and watercolours. The exhibition was curated by British art historian [[Christiana Payne]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Spring Exhibition |url=https://www.ashmolean.org/article/pre-raphaelites-drawings-and-watercolours|access-date=2021-09-01|website=www.ashmolean.org|language=en}}</ref>
*'''''Young Rembrandt''''': Open from August until November 2020, this exhibition was delayed due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], and featured more than 120 of [[Rembrandt]]'s paintings, drawings and prints from international and private collections. It focused on the first decade of Rembrandt's work, from 1624 to 1634, and included his early paintings [[Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem]], [[Self-Portrait in a Gorget|Self-portrait in a Gorget]], [[Rembrandt Laughing]], [[Judas Repentant, Returning the Pieces of Silver]], Portrait of [[Jacob de Gheyn III|Jacques de Gheyn III]], and [[History Painting (Rembrandt)|History Painting]]. The exhibition was the subject of a [[BBC]] television documentary, in its 2020 Museums in Quarantine series.<ref>{{Cite web|title= New Dates: Young Rembrandt |url=https://www.ashmolean.org/article/young-rembrandt|access-date=2021-09-01|website=www.ashmolean.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= Museums in Quarantine, Series 1, Rembrandt|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hqpj|access-date=2021-09-01|website=BBC Four|language=en-GB}}</ref>
* '''''Last Supper in Pompeii''''': Open from July 2019 until January 2020, this exhibition explored what the people of the ancient Roman city of [[Pompeii]] loved to eat and drink. Many of the objects, on loan from [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples|Naples Museum]] and [[Pompeii]], had never before left Italy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum 2019 Exhibition Listings|url=https://www.ashmolean.org/article/2019-exhibition-listings|access-date=10 April 2019}}</ref>
*'''''Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean''''': Open from February until June 2019, this exhibition featured 17 major works by the American artist [[Jeff Koons]], 14 of which had never been on display in the UK before. They included some of his most well-known series such as Equilibrium, [[Banality (sculpture series)|Banality]], Antiquity and his recent Gazing Ball paintings and sculptures. In the galleries of the museum, where the collections range from prehistory to the present, Jeff Koons's work was 'in conversation' with the history of art and ideas which has been his focus over the past four decades. The exhibition was curated by Koons and [[Norman Rosenthal]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum press release for Jeff Koons at the Ashmolean|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/press|access-date=7 January 2019|work=Ashmolean website}}</ref>
*'''''Spellbound: Magic, Ritual & Witchcraft''''': Open from August 2018 until January 2019, this exhibition explored the history of magic over eight centuries. On display were 180 objects from 12th-century Europe to newly commissioned contemporary artworks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum press release for Spellbound|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/press|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=10 August 2018}}</ref>
* '''''America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper''''': Open from March until July 2018 this major exhibition of works by American artists in the early 20th-century included over 80 paintings, photographs and prints, and the first American avant-garde film, [[Manhatta]]. Many of the paintings had never before travelled outside the US.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition America's Cool Modernism|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/americascoolmodernism|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=28 February 2018}}</ref>
* '''''Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions''''': Open from October 2017 until February 2018 this exhibition explored Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, and was the first to look at the art of these five world religions as they spread across continents in the first millennium AD.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Imagining the Divine|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/imaginingthedivine|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>
* '''''Raphael: The Drawings''''': Open from June 2017 until September 2017 this exhibition brought together over a hundred works by [[Raphael]] from international collections and aimed to transform public understanding of Raphael through a focus on the immediacy and expressiveness of his drawing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Raphael The Drawings|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>
* '''''Degas to Picasso: Creating Modernism in France''''': Open from February 2017 until May 2017, and featuring works by [[Matisse]], [[Manet]], [[Chagall]], [[Braque]], [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], [[Renoir]], [[Jean Metzinger|Metzinger]], [[Degas]], [[Fernand Léger|Léger]] and [[Picasso]], this exhibition told the story of the rise of Modernism through works from a private collection that had never been seen in Britain before.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Degas to Picasso|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/degastopicasso|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="ashmolean2">{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition listings 2017|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/about/press/downloads/?newsYear=2017|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="oxfordmail1">{{cite web|title=Picasso, Cézanne and Raphael will feature in stunning Ashmolean Museum exhibitions|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14996050.Picasso__C__zanne_and_Raphael_will_feature_in_stunning_Ashmolean_exhibitions/|work=Oxford Mail news website|access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref>
* '''''Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural''''': Open from October 2016 until January 2017, this was the first major exhibition to explore the supernatural in the art of the Islamic world. The exhibition included objects and works of art from the 12th to the 20th century, from Morocco to China, which have been used as sources of guidance and protection in the dramatic events of human history. These include dream-books, talismanic charts and amulets.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Power and Protection|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/details/?exh=128|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Art Fund What To See – Exhibition Power and Protection|url=https://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2016/10/20/power-and-protection-islamic-art-and-the-supernatural-exhibition|work=Art Fund website|access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref>
* '''''Storms, War and Shipwrecks: Treasures from the Sicilian Seas''''': Open from June until September 2016, this exhibition explored the roots of [[Sicily]]'s multi-cultural heritage through the discoveries made by underwater archaeologists – from chance finds to excavated shipwrecks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Storms War and Shipwrecks|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/details/?exh=129|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref> The exhibition also featured what has been described as a "flat pack" [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] church interior, intended for assembly at its destination, with marble items raised from a wreck off the southeast coast of Sicily in the 1960s by archaeologist Gerhard Kapitan.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Storms, War and Shipwrecks' at the Ashmolean Museum in 2016|url=http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-storms-war-and-shipwrecks-at.html|work=Archaeology News Network Blog Post|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>
* '''''Andy Warhol: Works from the Hall Collection''''': Open from February until May 2016, this exhibition featured over a hundred works, by [[Andy Warhol]], from the Hall Collection (US), plus loans of films from [[The Andy Warhol Museum]], Pittsburgh. Curated by [[Norman Rosenthal|Sir Norman Rosenthal]], the exhibition spanned Warhol's entire output, from iconic pieces of the 1960s Pop pioneer to the experimental works of his last decade.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Andy Warhol|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/andywarhol/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Andy Warhol Cultural Icon Celebrity and Provocateur New Ashmolean Exhibition Announced|url=http://www.artlyst.com/articles/andy-warhol-cultural-icon-celebrity-and-provocateur-new-ashmolean-exhibition-announced|work=Artlyst web article: Ashmolean 2016 Andy Warhol exhibition|access-date=22 January 2016}}</ref>
*'''''Elizabeth Price: A Restoration''''': Open from March until May 2016, this two-screen video installation by British artist [[Elizabeth Price (artist)|Elizabeth Price]] was a newly commissioned work in response to the collections and archives of the Ashmolean and [[Pitt Rivers Museum|Pitt Rivers]] museums, in partnership with the [[Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art]], and funded by the 2013 [[Contemporary Art Society]] Award. The main focus was the records of [[Arthur Evans]]'s excavation of the Cretan city of [[Knossos]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Elizabeth Price A Restoration|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/arestoration/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=24 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=CAS Annual Award Winner Elizabeth Price's new work to open at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford|url=http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/news/cas-annual-award-winner-elizabeth-prices-new-work-to-open-at-the-ashmolean-museum-oxford/|work=Contemporary Art Society website|date=24 February 2016|access-date=24 March 2016}}</ref>
* '''''Drawing in Venice: Titian to Canaletto''''': Open from October 2015 until January 2016, this exhibition featured a hundred drawings from The [[Uffizi]] Gallery in Florence, the Ashmolean, and [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. It was based on new research tracing continuities in Venetian drawing over three centuries, from around 1500 down to the foundation of the first academy of art in Venice in 1750.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Titian to Canaletto|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/titiantocanaletto/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref> The exhibition also featured 20 works on paper and canvas by contemporary artist [[Jenny Saville]], produced in response to the Venetian drawings in the exhibition.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum exhibition Titian to Canaletto Jenny Saville Drawing|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/titiantocanaletto/jennysaville/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref>
* '''''Great British Drawings''''': An exhibition open from March until August 2015 showing more than one hundred British drawings and watercolours from the Ashmolean's collection, spanning three hundred years.<ref name="ashmolean.org">{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum future exhibitions|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/future/|work=Ashmolean website future exhibitions|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>
* '''''An Elegant Society: Adam Buck, artist in the age of Jane Austen''''': Open from July until October 2015 this exhibition explored the work of [[Adam Buck]], Irish [[Regency era]] portrait and miniature painter.<ref name="ashmolean.org"/>
* '''''Love Bites: Caricatures by James Gillray''''': An exhibition in 2015 to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of British caricaturist [[James Gillray]] (1757–1815). The [[caricatures]] on display were from the collection of [[New College, Oxford]].<ref name="ashmolean.org"/>
* '''''William Blake: Apprentice and Master''''': Open from December 2014 until March 2015, this exhibition celebrated the work of [[William Blake]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/details/?exh=87|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref>
* '''''Discovering Tutankhamun''''': a special exhibition, open from July until November 2014, explored [[Howard Carter]]'s excavation of the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]] in 1922. Original records, drawings and photographs from the [[Griffith Institute]] were on display.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/discovertut/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''The Eye of the Needle: English Embroideries from the Feller Collection''''': a special exhibition, open from August until October 2014, of 17th-century embroideries from the ''Feller Collection'', together with examples from the Ashmolean's own holdings.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/eyeoftheneedle/|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=4 March 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''Cézanne and the Modern''''': a special exhibition, open from March to June 2014, displaying [[Impressionism|Impressionist]] and [[Post-Impressionism|Post-Impressionist]] paintings and sketches from the [[Henry Pearlman|Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/cezanne/about|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=1 August 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''Francis Bacon / Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone''''': a special exhibition, open from September 2013 until July 2014, displaying paintings by [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]] and sculptures and drawings by [[Henry Moore]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/baconmoore|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''Stradivarius''''': a special exhibition, open from June until August 2013, exploring the life and work of [[Antonio Stradivari]]. It was the first time twenty-one of his instruments, from guitar to cello to violin, were on display together in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/stradivarius|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''Master Drawings''''': a special exhibition, open from May until August 2013, displaying a selection of the Ashmolean's on western art collection. The exhibition surveyed drawings of all types by some of the biggest names in art history, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, as well as Gwen John, David Hockney and Antony Gormley.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/masterdrawings|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref> 
* '''''Xu Bing: Landscape Landscript''''': a special exhibition of the work of [[Xu Bing]], open from February until May 2013. It was the Ashmolean's first major exhibition of contemporary art.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ashmolean Museum|url=http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/xubing|work=Ashmolean website|access-date=21 July 2014}}</ref>

==Keepers and Directors==
{{See also|Category: Keepers and directors of the Ashmolean Museum}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Keepers<ref>[http://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/collections/history-17thcentury.html "History 17th century"]. britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 1 September 2018.</ref><ref>[http://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/collections/history-18thcentury.html "History 18th century"]. britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 1 September 2018.</ref><ref>[http://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/collections/history-19thcentury.html "History 19th century"]. britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 1 September 2018.</ref><ref>[http://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/collections/history-20thcentury.html "History 20th century"]. britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 1 September 2018.</ref>

! Name
! From
! To
|-
| [[Robert Plot]]
| 1683
| 1690
|-
| [[Edward Lhuyd]]
| 1690
| 1709
|-
| [[David Parry (scholar)|David Parry]]
| 1709
| 1714
|-
| [[John Whiteside (curator)|John Whiteside]]
| 1714
| 1729
|-
| George Shepheard
| 1730
| 1731
|-
| Joseph Andrews
| 1731
| 1732
|-
| [[George Huddesford (Vice-Chancellor)|George Huddesford]]<ref name="hudd">M. St John Parker, 'Huddesford, William (bap. 1732, d. 1772)', [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], [[Oxford University Press]], Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14025, accessed 16 Feb 2010]</ref>
| 1732
| 1755
|-
| [[William Huddesford]]<ref name="hudd" /><ref name="eup" />
| 1755
| 1772
|-
| William Sheffield
| 1772
| 1795
|-
| William Lloyd<ref name="eup" />
| 1796
| 1815
|-
| Thomas Dunbar<ref name="eup" />
| 1815
| 1822
|-
| William Philipps<ref name="eup" />
| 1822
| 1823
|-
| [[John Shute Duncan]]<ref name="eup">{{cite journal| journal=[[Archives of Natural History]] | volume=27 | issue=3 | pages=369–406 | title=Re-inventing the Ashmolean. Natural history and natural theology at Oxford in the 1820s to 1850s | first1=Arthur | last1=MacGregor | first2=Abigail | last2=Headon | url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/anh.2000.27.3.369 | doi=10.3366/anh.2000.27.3.369 | publisher=The Society for the History of Natural History | date=2000 }}</ref>
| 1823
| 1826
|-
| [[Philip Bury Duncan]]<ref name="eup" />
| 1826
| 1854
|-
| [[John Phillips (geologist)|John Phillips]] 
| 1854
| 1870
|-
| [[John Henry Parker (writer)|John Henry Parker]]
| 1870
| 1884
|-
| [[Sir Arthur Evans]]
| 1884
| 1908
|-
| [[David George Hogarth]]
| 1909
| 1927
|-
| [[Edward Thurlow Leeds]]
| 1928
| 1945
|-
| Sir [[Karl Parker]]
| 1945
| 1962
|-
| [[Robert Hamilton (archaeologist)|Robert W. Hamilton]]
| 1962
| 1972
|}

Beginning in 1973, the position of Keeper was superseded by that of Director:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ Directors
! Name
! From
! To
|-
| [[Sir David Piper]]
| 1973
| 1985
|-
| Professor [[Sir Christopher White]]
| 1985
| 1997
|- 
| [[Roger Moorey]] (acting)
| 1997
| 1998
|-
| [[Christopher Brown (museum director)|Christopher Brown]]
| 1998<ref>[http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/supps/1_4494.htm Ashmolean Annual Report 1997-1998] ''Oxford University Gazette'' (9 December 1998)</ref>
| 2014<ref name="artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com"/>
|- 
| [[Alexander Sturgis]]
| 2014
| 
|}

==Notable people==
{{See also|Category: People associated with the Ashmolean Museum}}

===Current keepers===
* [[Christopher Howgego]], Keeper of the Heberden Coin Room 
* Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Keeper of Eastern Art
* Liam McNamara, Keeper of Antiquities
* Jennifer Sliwka, Keeper of Western Art

===Former staff===
* [[Michael Metcalf]], former Keeper of the Heberden Coin Room
* [[Joan Crowfoot Payne]], archaeologist and Cataloguer of the Egyptian and Nubian collectors (1957–1979)
* [[Jon Whiteley]], former Assistant Keeper of Western Art
* [[Susan Sherratt]], former Assistant Curator and Honorary Research Assistant to the Arthur Evans Archive
* [[Andrew Sherratt]], former Assistant Keeper of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum
* Catherine Whistler, former Keeper of Western Art

==In popular culture==

===Books===
*  The Ashmolean Museum is a minor location within the book ''[[Babel, or the Necessity of Violence]]''.

===Comics===
*  The 21st book in the Belgian comics series ''[[Blake and Mortimer]]'', titled ''[[The Oath of the Five Lords]]'', centres around a series of burglaries at the Ashmolean and their connection to [[T. E. Lawrence]].

===Television===
*The [[Alfred Jewel]] was the inspiration for the [[List of Inspector Morse episodes#Series 2 (1987–1988)|''Inspector Morse'' episode]] "The [[Wolvercote]] Tongue" (1988), in which the museum's interior was used as a set.<ref>{{cite web| title= Itinerary for Inspector Morse Tour| url= http://www.tourinaday.com/oxford/inspector-morse-tour.php| work= Oxford, England| publisher= TourInADay| quote= The Ashmolean Museum is home to The Alfred Jewel that inspired the Inspector Morse episode, The Wolvercote Tongue. This episode&nbsp;...&nbsp;used the inside of the Ashmolean as a set.| access-date= 4 July 2008| archive-date= 17 August 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160817164239/http://www.tourinaday.com/oxford/inspector-morse-tour.php| url-status= usurped}}</ref> 
* The Ashmolean also figures prominently in several episodes of the successor series ''[[Lewis (TV series)|Lewis]]'', particularly the episode "Point of Vanishing" where the painting ''[[The Hunt in the Forest]]'' ({{Circa|1470}}) is a key plot element; the characters visit the painting at the museum and are instructed on its features by an art expert before solving the case.

==Theft==
[[File:View of Auvers-sur-Oise Paul Cezanne.png|thumb|right|''[[View of Auvers-sur-Oise]]'' by [[Paul Cézanne]]]]
On 31 December 1999, during the fireworks that accompanied the celebration of the [[Millennium#Viewpoint 2: x000–x999|millennium]], thieves used scaffolding on an adjoining building to climb onto the roof of the museum and stole [[Cézanne]]'s landscape painting ''[[View of Auvers-sur-Oise]]''. Valued at £3&nbsp;million, the painting has been described as an important work illustrating the transition from early to mature Cézanne painting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/arttheft/cezanne |title=FBI – Cezanne |publisher=Fbi.gov |date=31 December 1999 |access-date=17 November 2012}}</ref> As the thieves ignored other works in the same room, and the stolen Cézanne has not been offered for sale, it is speculated that this was a case of an artwork stolen to order.<ref>{{Cite news| title= Art World Nightmare: Made-to-Order Theft; Stolen Works Like Oxford's Cezanne Can Vanish for Decades| url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E3DD123FF930A35751C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all| last= Lyall| first= Sarah| author-link= Sarah Lyall | work= The New York Times| quote= ...&nbsp;the thief carried with him exactly what he had come for, a $4.8&nbsp;million Cézanne oil on canvas, 'Auvers-sur-Oise,' which was painted between 1879 and 1882&nbsp;...| date= 3 February 2000| access-date= 4 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Nick |last=Hopkins |title=How art treasures are stolen to order |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk_news/story/0,,245112,00.html |work=The Guardian |date=8 January 2000 |access-date=7 October 2007 | location=London}}</ref> The Cézanne has not been recovered and is one of the FBI's Top Ten Art Crimes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Theft of Cezanne's View of Auvers-sur-Oise |url=https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/art-theft/fbi-top-ten-art-crimes/theft-of-cezannes-view-of-auvers-sur-oise |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}</ref>

In 2010 several of the [[Egypt Exploration Society]]'s [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri]] held by the museum were [[Dirk Obbink#Alleged sale of stolen papyri|allegedly stolen from the collection]] and sold to the American ''[[Museum of the Bible]]''.<ref>Charlotte Higgins: ''[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-oxford-the-curious-case-of-the-stolen-gospel A scandal in Oxford: the curious case of the stolen gospel - What links an eccentric Oxford classics don, billionaire US evangelicals, and a tiny, missing fragment of an ancient manuscript? Charlotte Higgins unravels a multimillion-dollar riddle]'', series ''The long read'', [[The Guardian]]. In: theguardian.com</ref>

===Repatriation of artifacts===
In 2024, the museum agreed to return a 500-year-old bronze sculpture of the Hindu poet and saint [[Thirumangai Alvar]] that it had purchased at an auction at [[Sotheby's]] in 1967, after the [[India House, London|Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom]] filed a claim stating that the item was stolen from a temple in [[Tamil Nadu]] in 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oxford University to return bronze sculpture of Hindu saint to India |url=https://apnews.com/article/bronze-hindu-saint-repatriation-india-oxford-50fae40174dd4428cf1d745bfda64e5f |access-date=10 June 2024 |website=Associated Press |language=en-us}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[:Category: Museums of the University of Oxford|Museums of the University of Oxford]]
* [[Museum of Oxford]]
* [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]]
* [[Bate Collection of Musical Instruments]]
* [[Christ Church Picture Gallery]]
* Donation by [[Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud]]{{fact|date=November 2024}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ashmolean Museum}}
*{{official website|http://www.ashmolean.org}}
*[https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/art Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070202061949/http://www.ashmolean.museum/Griffith.html The Griffith Institute]
*[http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/ashmolean/ Virtual Tour of the Ashmolean Museum, photography from 2003] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803104145/http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/ashmolean/ |date=3 August 2008 }}
*[http://www.she-philosopher.com/gallery/powhatan-map.html Powhatan's Mantle]{{snd}}pictures, description and history
*[https://cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/search?collection=Ashmolean+Museum%2C+Oxford%2C+UK Near Eastern cuneiform tablets collection] at the [[Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative]]
* {{MDS venue}}

{{Museums and galleries in Oxfordshire}}

{{Ashmolean Museum keepers and directors}}

{{Authority control}}
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