Gainsborough, Turner & Constable: Inventing Landscape
An exhibition to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Suffolk-born artist John Constable!
Location
Gainsborough's House, 46 Gainsborough Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2EU
Telephone
01787 372958- Date
- 8th May 2026 - 11th October 2026
About this event
2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Suffolk-born artist John Constable (1776–1837).
To celebrate, this exhibition explores the emergence of the tradition of landscape painting in Britain through three of its greatest exponents.
Key works include Gainsborough’s idyllic scene, Landscape with Cattle, a Young Man Courting a Milkmaid (early 1770s), which has not been exhibited in the UK since 1952; Turner’s large-scale watercolour, Abergavenny Bridge (1799) which has not been on public display since 1799 at the Royal Academy; and Constable’s dramatic oil sketch, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (c. 1830s), a variant of his ‘great Salisbury’ painting thought to be a study for the mezzotint developed with David Lucas. The exhibition culminates in John Constable’s magnificent The Leaping Horse from the Royal Academy, in Suffolk for the first time.
Gainsborough’s House will also present temporary exhibitions and new displays of David Dawson (b. 1960) and Kate Giles (b. 1962) inspired by the artwork of Constable and his contemporaries.
Admission tickets can be purchased at reception when you visit, or online in advance.
Image:
John Constable (1776–1837)
The Leaping Horse, 1825
Oil on canvas, 142 x 187.3 cm (Royal Academy of Arts, London)
© Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London
Photographer: Prudence Cuming Associates Limited
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About the Venue
Gainsborough’s House is the national centre for Thomas Gainsborough and it holds the most comprehensive collection of his work in a single setting. A varied programme of temporary exhibitions is also on show throughout the year. Visitor’s gift shop, café and garden are also available as part of the museum experience.
Gainsborough’s House is the childhood home of Thomas Gainsborough RA (1727–1788). Today, the permanent collection of Gainsborough's House encompasses the whole career of Thomas Gainsborough, from early portraits and landscapes painted in Suffolk during the 1750s, to later works from his Bath and London periods of the 1760s, 70s and 80s. The collection of works on paper includes drawings by Gainsborough and his contemporaries, as well as prints by or after Gainsborough and other eighteenth-century artists.
In 2019, Gainsborough’s House commenced a £10m building project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. On 21 November 2022, the museum re-opened to the public after a transformational refurbishment; introducing 3 new exhibition spaces to accompany the original Grade I listed building. The museum is now the largest gallery in Suffolk.
The visitor entrance to Gainsborough’s House is on Weavers Lane and leads into the main gallery. Visitors can view the family house, the new gallery spaces, examples of Gainsborough’s work, alongside specialist exhibitions and the famed, crinkle-crinkle walled garden and Mulberry Tree dating to the early 1600s. The space also has The Watering Place café serving coffees, pastries and light lunches.
For more information about tickets, access or events; please see our website. Visit today! We are open every day from 10:00am – 17:00pm.
