Thomas Gainsborough

Although the great Suffolk artist Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, he spent formative years in Ipswich from 1752-1759.

After an apprenticeship in London and a time in his birthplace he had moved to Ipswich because commissions for portraits were more easily obtained here.

He rented thirty-four Foundation Street, shamefully demolished in the early sixties, a house similar to number thirty-two where the plaque is mounted.

As well as painting portraits and landscapes he was a keen member of the Ipswich Music Club, playing several instruments.

He moved to Bath in 1759 where artistic opportunities were even more favourable. But it is appropriate that Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich houses one of the best collections of his paintings outside London.

Among the first tranche of blue plaques, this was unveiled in 2001.