Perhaps the greatest of all English artists, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) was born in the small town of Sudbury on the river Stour in Suffolk. His house is now both a museum and a research center for Gainsborough studies. It holds an outstanding collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books, and memorabilia relating to the artist and his time. This book presents both the highlights of this collection, which has not hitherto been published, and significant new research and insights relating to Gainsborough’s art, character, and career.

Works in the collection include fine examples by Gainsborough himself at all stages of his career, along with paintings and engravings by the artist’s mentors, Francis Hayman and Hubert-Francois Gravelot, and by his followers, notably his nephew Gainsborough Dupont and Thomas Rowlandson, and by other East Anglian artists, including John Constable.

Hugh Belsey is curator of Gainsborough’s House. He has published widely on Gainsborough and other 18th-century artists, most recently Gainsborough: A Country Life.