Suffolk and Flanders are not far apart as the crow flies. There have been connections between them for centuries, ever since Flemish merchants came to Suffolk to buy the coveted wool of Suffolk sheep for Flemish weavers to turn into high-quality cloth. By Gainsborough’s day, in both England and Flanders, new manufacturing processes are already...

Unknown Artist after Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788). Ignatius Sancho, c. 1802-20. Gainsborough’s House and National Portrait Gallery. Entrance is included in price of House admission. In 1768 Thomas Gainsborough painted the portrait of Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729-1780), who was then valet to the Duke of Montagu. The portrait of Sancho is a rare depiction of a black man in...