French drawings and more at Gainsborough's House

I spent a happy afternoon at Gainsborough’s House yesterday.  Firstly I visited the latest temporary exhibition French Drawings from the Time of Gainsborough. Later I dropped in to the open event at Gainsborough’s Chambers in Weavers Lane.  Here it was possible to look at the outline plans for the proposed major project that will create a national centre for Gainsborough in Sudbury,  the town of his birth.  Realisation of the scheme was recently brought a step closer by the award of £4.7m from the National Lottery.

The exhibition of French drawings is a real stunner.  On display are some 40 or so terrific works from the 18^th Century by noted masters such as Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau to name but a few.  The general influence of these artists on Gainsborough’s work is clear, but moving closer to home, the exhibition also includes a small display focussing on the work of Hubert Francois Gravelot (1699- 1773). Gravelot lived in England for part of his life and Thomas Gainsborough was employed by him when he left Sudbury to work in London in his teens. The young artist also attended the St Martin’s Lane Academy, founded by Hogarth, at which Gravelot was an instructor.   Gainsborough’s House owns several works by Gravelot, and his elegant drawing A Young Lady seated on a Chair (c.1744), pictured above,  is on display in the exhibition alongside other examples of his work.

The exhibition is very well described and the wide variety of works on show mean that there is almost too much to absorb in one session.  There is a very fine catalogue that includes an essay by the curator of the show, Dr Christoph Vogtherr.  This is a steal at the price of £5 and would make a good Christmas present for any art lover.

Then it was on to the open event.  Around 150 people attended over  the course of the day,  and many took the opportunity to give early feedback to the outline proposals.   On the whole the comments were very positive and reflected enthusiasm for the ambition of the project and the potential impact on the future of Sudbury and the surrounding area.

There will be further open events of this kind in the coming months as the fundraising effort for matched funding gets underway. 

The exhibition, French Drawings from the Time of Gainsborough runs until February 19th 2017.

Picture description

Gravelot (1699-1773), Hubert-François

A Young Lady Seated on a Chair(c 1744).

Drawing

Black chalk heightened with white chalk on buff paper

32.5x25.5 cm

Gainsborough House Museum, Sudbury.  Acquired 1993.