Gainsborough's House
Gainsborough's House
The museum and art gallery at the birthplace of artist Thomas Gainsborough in Sudbury.
We run a variety of workshops and guided tours for schools, community groups and organised parties of visitors from the region and beyond. During the school holidays, we organise a series of exciting events for children and families. Regular classes are also on offer, such as Artsmart, a Saturday morning art class for children, and a monthly Life Drawing session for adults.
Art history lectures and gallery talks are programmed throughout the year. Outreach sessions to schools, art societies and other community groups are also offered.
Why come to Gainsborough's House?
Thomas Gainsborough is one of the greatest painters in the history of British art. Gainsborough's House is unique in being the only artist's birthplace museum in Britain. Gainsborough's art encompasses both landscape and portraiture, with fine examples on display at Gainsborough's House. The House itself is of interest and allows pupils to imagine what life would have been like in the 1700s. Pupils can also spend time in the garden, where Thomas and his brothers and sisters would have played as children; there is even a mulberry tree, which is over 400 years old.
What is there to see?
The collection is displayed in a chronological order with information about Gainsborough's family, life and career. Furniture from the eighteenth century is displayed in the house and includes the studio cabinet used by Thomas Gainsborough. As the first important British artist ever to paint landscapes, they are a wonderful starting point for discussion. The portraits in the collection are engaging and capture not only the likeness but also the personality of his sitters.
What is there to do?
A tour of Gainsborough's House will give pupils an opportunity to find out about Gainsborough as a person, learn about his family and childhood home and discuss the paintings in the collection. Tours can focus on portraits, landscapes or both. Children will be encouraged to share their own feelings and ideas and the paintings are a fantastic stimulus for art, history and literacy study.
To extend your visit and build upon learning in the gallery, your class can take part in one of our additional activity sessions. Options include a model landscape building and drawing activity, based on Gainsborough's practice of creating miniature landscapes in his studio with twigs and stones and a portrait and costume based activity, giving pupils the opportunity to dress in replica eighteenth-century costume and write letters to Thomas Gainsborough to commission their own portrait.