Every object in the Ashmolean has passed from hand to hand to reach the Museum. In a new podcast, we uncover the invisible fingerprints left behind by makers, looters, archaeologists, soldiers, rulers, curators, and many more. These stories of touch reveal the ways in which the forces of conflict and colonialism have shaped Britain’s oldest Museum. Join the Ashmolean’s curators alongside artists, experts, and community members, for our new podcast: Fingerprints.

Fingerprints will be released on the Ashmolean’s website, on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts, weekly from  21 January 2022 until 25 February 2022.

Fingerprints is produced and hosted by Lucie Dawkins. Guests include Bénédicte Savoy, co-author of the Report on African Cultural Heritage, commissioned by Emmanuel Macron; Professor Dan Hicks, of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum; and Simukai Chigudu, one of the founding members of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.

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Could Shakespeare have been inspired by Arabic and Persian poetry? Did Romeo and Juliet have their origins in the Bedouin nomads of the Levant? Join Francesca Leoni as she takes us through the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, through the lens of a jewel-like miniature painting in the Ashmolean’s archives. In this episode, you’ll hear the poetry of Shakespeare and Nizami Ganjavi.

Poetry in this episode
Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
Layli wa Majnun, by Nizami Ganjavi, with a prose translation by Rudolph Gelpke

Artwork in this episode
Page depicting Layla visiting Majnun in the wilderness View this online

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with Francesca Leoni. The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

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Meet Paolo Uccello’s spine-tingling painting The Hunt in Forest, with a mysterious vanishing point right at its very heart. It is an image which has fascinated poets, including Derek Mahon and John Burnside, who both wrote collections inspired by this 600 year old painting. John Burnside joins host Lucie Dawkins in this episode, to talk about why The Hunt in the Forest has gripped his imagination, and we also hear a reading of Derek Mahon’s poem.

What do you see when you stare into the place where everything vanishes?


Poems in this episode:

‘The Hunt in the Forest’ by John Burnside from The Hunt in the Forest (2009)

'The Hunt by Night’ by Derek Mahon from New Collected Poems (2011), reproduced by kind permission of the author’s Estate c/o The Gallery Press. www.gallerypress.com


Artwork in this episode:

The Hunt in the Forest View this online

If you want to take a closer look at the artwork mentioned in this episode, you can view it at the link above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud


Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with  John Burnside, featuring the voice of Damian Gildea. With poems by John Burnside and Derek Mahon.

The producer is Lucie Dawkins.


About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Support the show

Lizzie Siddall was the 19th century’s proto-supermodel. Her beauty inspired the artists and poets of her generation, who presented her as a mysterious, fairytale creature. We tend to know her through the filter of the men who painted her, but in the archives of the Ashmolean Museum, you can encounter the real Lizzie. Behind the silent muse of Pre-Raphaelite art was a vibrant, creative woman, who was herself a talented poet and artist. In this episode, meet one of history’s most famous models, on her own terms.

Two men in a boat and a woman punting, Elizabeth Siddal (1829–1862) View this online

Elizabeth Siddal playing a Stringed Instrument, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) View this online

Elizabeth Siddal playing Double Pipes, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) View this online

If you want to take a closer look at the artworks mentioned in this episode, you can view them at the links above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with Caroline Palmer and the voices of Josie Richardson and Sid Sagar. With poems by Lizzie Siddall, Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Support the show

In this episode, Clare Pollard, the Curator of Japanese Art, and researcher Kiyoko Hanaoka introduce us to surimono prints, which combined poems and picture puzzles in beautiful objects designed to be exchanged as gifts by members of Japanese poetry clubs. Join them as they decode the clues in these complex and beautiful prints.

The priest Sōjō Henjō, who fell – a woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyasu (1794–1832)
View this online

Ono no Tōfu – a woodblock print by Totoya Hokkei (1780 - 1850)
View this online

If you want to take a closer look at the objects mentioned in this episode, you can view them at the links above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with Clare Pollard and Kiyoko Hanaoka.
The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Support the show

In 1506, Michelangelo witnessed the excavation of a long-lost Roman sculpture, showing a battle between man and monster. This sculpture has inspired writers and artists for generations, including Vergil and Goethe. Meet the Laocoon group, and hear these writers in their own words.

The Laocoon Group – View this online

If you want to take a closer look at the object mentioned in this episode, you can view it at the link above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with the voices of Jonathan Aris and Hannah Bristow.
The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Support the show

What connects James Bond and Shakespeare? The answer: John Dee, magician, spy, theatre director, and inventor of the British Empire. Take a journey through his bizarre and extraordinary life, and hear him speak in his own words, alongside the poetry from Shakespeare and Marlowe.

Portrait of John Dee c. 1594 – View the painting

If you want to take a closer look at the painting mentioned in this episode, you can view it at the link above. Visit the podcast page on the Ashmolean website: ashmolean.org/objects-out-loud

Hosted by Lucie Dawkins, with the voices of Jonathan Aris and Hannah Bristow.
The producer is Lucie Dawkins.

About Objects Out Loud: From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Support the show

From a magician who inspired Shakespeare, and poems woven into Japanese prints, to manuscripts illuminated with the ancient love story of Layla and Majnun, this new podcast series will delve into the poetry and literature hidden in the collections at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Join us each Friday, from 5 February, for a new audio adventure.

Objects Out Loud is produced and presented by Lucie Dawkins.

Support the show