In 2017 a significant collection of over 100 works by Cedric Morris was gifted to Gainsborough’s House. Works in the collection include landscape and portrait paintings as well as drawings, prints and even Cedric Morris’s palette. Uniquely the works remained part of Cedric Morris’s private collection until his deathin 1982. Maggi Hambling, who was a student and friend of Cedric Morris, has been instrumental in introducing the collection to Gainsborough’s House and in selecting the paintings and drawings for this exhibition.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) was born in Sudbury and baptised at the Independent Meeting-House in Friars Street on 14 May 1727, the fifth son and ninth child of John and Mary Gainsborough. In 1958, Gainsborough’s House Society was formed to purchase the house and establish it as a centre for Thomas Gainsborough. The Museum opened to the public in 1961 and has remained open for over 50 years. The beautiful historic garden at the heart of Gainsborough’s House is maintained by a devoted body of volunteers, who garden exclusively with plants that were available in Gainsborough’s lifetime.
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