Camera Obscura

Come and experience the outside appear inside our amazing camera obscura. Create your own minicamera, make a kaleidoscope and experiment with light. Family drop-in sessions – no need to book Cost £2 per child and £3 per adult Includes admission to all the galleries at Gainsborough's House Recommended age from 3 – 12 years Must...

Drawing on Lino with Peter Brown

Explore the myriad possibilities of versatile lino on this comprehensive course. Illustrative or abstract, mono or multiblock, your project will develop from a strong basis of drawing. You will be encouraged to experiment at every stage as you develop your own creative approach to produce original prints. Peter is a printmaker with a background in...

Celebrating Silk

Print your own fabric bag, create a silky bookmark, sort out your warp from your weft and have a go at different types of weaving. Family drop-in sessions – no need to book Cost £2 per child and £3 per adult Includes admission to all the galleries at Gainsborough's House Recommended age from 3 –...

Sudbury Silk Festival

To celebrate Sudbury’s rich weaving heritage, the town will launch its first annual Silk Festival. The festival will take place on Saturday 7 September, to coincide with Heritage Open Days which sees a rare opportunity to visit buildings that were formerly the cottages and houses of silk weavers and textile merchants. Join us and discover...

Vivienne Westwood at Gainsborough’s House

  To celebrate the inaugural Sudbury Silk Festival (7 September 2019), Gainsborough’s House is proud to display four ensembles by the iconic British fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood. Ranging from the last two decades, they show how Vivienne has repeatedly taken inspiration from historic dress, particularly that of the eighteenth century. Vivienne first became known...

Visit to Sotheby’s and Handel House

On this exclusive Friends visit we will be given a special tour of the exhibition of Scottish paintings and an insight to some of the ‘behind -the-scenes’ preparations for a Sotheby’s auction. After a break for lunch, we will take a short walk to Handel House to visit the home of the famous composer. Places...

Russian Grand Tourists in 18th Century Europe

Friends (Quaker) Meeting House 22 Friars Street, Sudbury, United Kingdom

From the middle of the Eighteenth Century, the Russian nobility began to travel for pleasure and education in Western Europe.  Although the experiences of these ‘Grand Tourists’ were similar in some ways to those of their English counterparts, Russian factors presented special obstacles and incentives. In this talk, we will meet a number of notable...

Supporters House Party

Join us to celebrate the beginning of our next phase of redevelopment and another step closer to becoming a National Centre for Thomas Gainsborough. See Gainsborough’s House for the last time and as never before, stripped back and emptied, as we prepare to hand over the keys to our appointed builders. Free to all our...

Life Drawing Group – formerly at Gainsborough’s House

The Jetty Quay Lane, Sudbury

The Life Drawing Group has re-located to The Jetty, Quay Lane, CO10 2AN. The Jetty is the single story cream building next to the garage. There should be plenty of parking available in The Quay car park opposite. The drawing group is held on the first Saturday of every month from 10-4pm. Cost £18 Dates...

Postponed: 2020 Viewfinder – Nomadic Camera Obscura

Come and experience the outside appear inside our amazing camera obscura. Create your own mini-camera, make a kaleidoscope and experiment with light. Saturday 16 May 2020, Hadleigh Agricultural show for more information visit www.hadleighshow.co.uk Friday 29 May 2020, Wild in the Stour Valley for more information visit www.riverstourfestival.com Saturday 11 and 12 July 2020, Bures...

2022 Open Days – A unique opportunity

Gainsborough's House 46 Gainsborough Street, Sudbury, United Kingdom

An opportunity to see inside the newly completed Gainsborough’s House before the installations of our exhibitions and displays, 15th - 18th September 10am - 5pm. Come and visit the brand new Galleries and restored historical House and look out from the Landscape Studio to see the landscape that Gainsborough saw nearly 300 years ago. There...

FREE

Painting Flanders: Flemish Art 1880-1914

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...

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