Gainsborough's House, the museum and gallery at the birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough

Initially, interest was stimulated by individuals: Michael Harvard, Aubrey Herbert and Sir Alfred Munnings were early instigators.
 
By October 1956 a Gainsborough's House National Appeal Committee was formed, under the Chairmanship of the Mayor of Sudbury, Councillor Arthur Essex JP. The committee brought together local businessmen and politicians, as well as those interested in art and history. Initially the President was The Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk; Vice-President was the artist Sir Alfred Munnings KCVC, PPRA, who lived at nearby Dedham. 
 
Appeals were made to all sections of the local community. From the beginning, the House was to be a centre for the arts, as well as a museum and monument to Gainsborough. Fund-raising included collection boxes in local hotels as well as in major galleries around the country.
 
Artists were particularly supportive. Sir Alfred Munnings hoped to encourage others to make major donations, when in 1957 he gave £1,500, the proceeds of the sale of his painting of the Queen's horse, Aureole. The House was purchased on 20 January 1958 for £5, 250. By September, Gainsborough's House Society was formally established to run the museum as an independent charity.  
 
Following the successful acquisition of the building, local companies and individuals also gave materials and their labour to help renovate the building and the garden.  The museum was formally opened on 12 April 1961.
 
The house opened as a public museum in 1961 but there was no permanent collection as such. People were encouraged to donate or to lend works of art, furniture, decorative objects or Gainsborough memorabilia to furnish the house, as well as Gainsborough paintings, drawings and reproductions. Including two Gainsborough drawings, teapots and a seventeenth-century chair. Other works deposited here in 1961 are still on permanent display in the House. Amongst these are five pieces of furniture on loan from the V&A and the six portraits by Gainsborough initially loaned by Lord de Saumarez, which have since been acquired. 
 
Appeals for funds were ongoing. Major building work was carried out in 1967 and, initially, it was hoped to raise money for an endowment for the House to be taken over by the National Trust - a scheme that was later abandoned. Most recently a successful appeal for over £1 million was raised to renovate the cottages and the main house and garden, which was carried out from 2005-7. In 2000 a Friends organisation was established to help with fundraising and a programme of social events. 
 
Since the initial appeal in the 1950s, artists have responded to the House and its attractive walled garden. The image of the historic house itself, as much as that of the artist or his work, has been most widely used to promote the museum.