Gainsborough's House
Richard Cavendish breathes 18th-century elegance into the Thomas Gainsborough Musuem
Among the cluttered stalls and bellowed bargains of Sudbury's cheerful market place the figure of Thomas Gainsborough stands high on its plinth, holding palette and brushes as if to record the scene.
Gainsborough is far and away the most famous of Sudbury's sons and the statue, by Sir Bertram Mackennal, was unveiled in 1913. Not far away in Gainsborough Street is the house where the painter was born in 1727 (it was Sepulchre Street then) and where today you can admire the largest number of his works displayed in any one place. They do not include the very greatest Gains-boroughs - the Blue Boy and the Duchess of Devonshire and Mr and Mrs Andrews are installed in the world's leading galleries - but in their setting in the old Suffolk house where he grew up the portraits and landscapes have a special poignancy.
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