Last week of Silent Partners

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It is the last week to see the Fitzwilliam Museum’s ground-breaking exhibition Silent Partners before it closes after 25 January.

Uncovering the playful and uncanny history of the mannequin from the Renaissance to the present-day, the exhibition features over 180 paintings, drawings, photographs, dolls, trade catalogues, books, videos and mannequins.

For centuries, the mannequin, or lay figure, was little more than a studio tool, a piece of equipment as necessary as easel, pigments and brushes. This major loan exhibition reveals the multiple purposes it serves - from fixing perspective and painting reflections, to being a support for drapery and costume - and shows how it gradually moved centre stage to become the subject of the painting, photograph or film, eventually becoming a work of art in its own right.

If you miss Silent Partners in Cambridge the exhibition is moving on to the Musée Bourdelle, Paris from 1 April 2015.