Gainsborough's House facts for kids

Gainsborough's House is the special place where the famous English painter Thomas Gainsborough was born. It's now a museum and art gallery. You can find it in Sudbury, England. This old house is a very important historical building, known as a Grade I listed building. Some of the beautiful paintings you see there were bought with help from the Art Fund.

About the House

The house at 46 Gainsborough Street was built around 1520. Thomas Gainsborough's parents, John and Mary Gainsborough, likely moved in around 1722. Thomas, who was the youngest of their nine children, was born there five years later in 1727. He grew up in the house and went to Sudbury Grammar School. When he was 13, he moved to London to study art with a French painter named Hubert-Francois Gravelot.

The house stayed a private home until 1920. After that, it was used for different things, like a guest house and an antique shop. In 1958, a group called the Gainsborough's House Society bought the house. They wanted to make it a museum to honor Thomas Gainsborough. The museum first opened its doors to visitors in 1961.

House History

The oldest part of the house you can still see is the oak doorway in the entrance room. This doorway might be as old as 1490!

The house has changed a lot over time. The first part of the house, which includes the Entrance Hall, was built around 1500. The oak doorway was probably the main front door back then. Later, around 1600, another house was built next door. Only a part of this second house, called the Parlour, is still visible today.

Many old houses like this were built with a frame of strong oak beams. The spaces between these beams were filled with a special kind of plaster. This plaster was made from clay soil mixed with reeds. It was called "wattle and daub". Two people would work together to put it on the walls. It was cheap and strong, but it could shrink in dry weather or soak up water when it was wet. Inside, the walls often had wooden panels up to chair height. The rest of the walls might have had wallpaper or painted designs.

By the early 1700s, the wooden beams inside the house would have been covered up. The floors, which used to be packed earth, were now made of oak planks.

Gainsborough's parents bought the house in 1722 for £230. It stayed in their family until 1792. When the house was sold, it was described as a "most excellent Brickt Mansion" with plenty of space for a family. It also had two long buildings, an orchard with fruit trees, a flower garden, and a paved yard. The whole property was about two acres.

The house remained a private home until the 1920s. Then, it became a guest house and tearoom. People could come for lunch and tea, and it even hosted wedding parties. The garden was often open in the summer, and it had two tennis courts for hire. Photos from that time show that the house was very popular.

After the Second World War, the house was used for different things, including an antique shop. In the mid-1950s, an art dealer named Mr. Doward bought the house. He wanted to live there, but his wife didn't want to move to Sudbury. So, the house was put up for sale again in 1956.

The Museum Today

Many people became interested in saving the house, including Michael Harvard, Aubrey Herbert, and Sir Alfred Munnings. In October 1956, a special committee was formed to raise money. This group included local business people, politicians, and art lovers.

From the very beginning, the plan was for the house to be a place for art, as well as a museum about Gainsborough. People put collection boxes in local hotels and art galleries across the country to gather donations.

Artists were very supportive. Sir Alfred Munnings gave £1,500 in 1957. This money came from selling his painting of the Queen's horse, Aureole. The house was bought on January 20, 1958, for £5,250. By September, the Gainsborough's House Society was officially set up to run the museum as a charity.

After the house was bought, local companies and people gave materials and their time to help fix up the building and garden. The museum officially opened on April 12, 1961.

When it first opened, the museum didn't have its own permanent collection. People were asked to donate or lend artworks, furniture, and other items related to Gainsborough. This included two of his drawings, teapots, and a 17th-century chair. Some items loaned in 1961 are still on display today. For example, five pieces of furniture are on loan from the V&A museum. Also, six portraits by Gainsborough, first loaned by Lord de Saumarez, have since been bought by the museum.

Fundraising continued over the years. Big renovation work happened in 1967. More recently, over £1 million was raised to fix up the cottages, the main house, and the garden between 2005 and 2007. In 2000, a "Friends" group was started to help with fundraising and social events.

Since the 1950s, artists have been inspired by the house and its beautiful walled garden. The image of the historic house itself, as much as Gainsborough's art, has been used to promote the museum.

The museum had a huge makeover starting in 2019. It got a new gallery and exhibition space next to Gainsborough's original home. The Heritage Fund gave the Sudbury gallery £10 million for this project. The new gallery space opened to the public on November 21, 2022.

Thomas Gainsborough's Art

During the 1700s, painting landscapes (pictures of nature) was not seen as important as painting portraits (pictures of people). But Gainsborough was special because he often mixed these two styles in his art. He was one of the first important British artists to paint landscapes regularly. These landscapes were perfect for showing his poetic ideas.

While Gainsborough sold some landscapes, he made more money painting portraits. Later in his career, from the 1760s onwards, so many people wanted their portraits painted that he became very busy. Unlike many other painters, Gainsborough loved to draw. He was always trying new things with different drawing and printmaking methods. In his later years, he also started painting mythological scenes and "fancy" pictures that told a story. Gainsborough's painting skills were excellent, and his artworks have lasted well. People today admire his painting style, especially his smooth brushstrokes and how natural his art looks.

Gainsborough went to Sudbury Grammar School. But at 13, he moved to London to study art. There, he trained with a French artist named Hubert-Francois Gravelot. He also met other artists like William Hogarth and Francis Hayman. Their decorative Rococo style and new "conversation piece" portraits (informal group portraits) influenced young Gainsborough.

In 1749, after he married Margaret Burr and his father died, he moved back to Sudbury. He earned a small living painting portraits of local wealthy people and professionals. These early portraits could be a bit stiff, but they showed his talent for capturing a person's look and personality. At the same time, he also painted landscapes. Even though they were inspired by the Suffolk countryside, they were rarely exact views of real places. His early landscapes were similar to Dutch paintings from the 1600s, with their careful details of nature.

By 1752, Gainsborough had probably painted most of the important people around Sudbury. So, he moved to Ipswich, which was a busy port town. There, he had more chances to grow as an artist with more demanding clients.

In 1759, Gainsborough made a big move to Bath. Bath was a fast-growing spa town and an important social center for rich and fashionable people. They went there to see doctors or to have their portraits painted.

His skills were in demand by more important and aristocratic people than before. His larger studio allowed him to paint full-length portraits on a grand scale. While in Bath, he kept painting landscapes and went on sketching trips in the countryside. These landscapes changed from being Dutch-influenced to more imaginary, peaceful scenes. Gainsborough became more confident as a painter from the 1760s onwards. This was not only because he had richer clients but also because he saw paintings by other famous artists. In Bath, for the first time, Gainsborough could see works by Van Dyck, Rubens, and other Old Masters in large art collections.

In 1768, the Royal Academy was started in London, giving artists an official place in society. Gainsborough was a founding member, while his rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds, was its first President. This might have encouraged Gainsborough to move to London in 1774. However, his relationship with the Academy wasn't always easy, and by 1783, he stopped showing his art at their yearly exhibitions.

In London, he lived in Schomberg House on Pall Mall. He held exhibitions in his studio there. The portraits he painted in his later years became more imaginative and graceful. He often used thin paint applied with light, feathery strokes. The "Cottage Door" was a common theme in his work. He also created new, more dramatic landscapes, especially after visiting the Lake District in 1783. In his last ten years, Gainsborough started painting mythological or "fancy" pictures. These were very important to him. He even thought his painting "The Woodman" (which was later destroyed by fire) was his best work. Gainsborough died of cancer on August 2, 1788, and is buried in Kew Churchyard.

See also

• English art
• Hugh Belsey
• List of British painters
• List of single-artist museums
• Western painting