In 2017 an exciting discovery was announced among the drawings in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The art historian Lindsay Stainton identified an album of 25 drawings – previously anonymous – as the work of the young Thomas Gainsborough (1727–­­88), one of the greatest British artists of the eighteenth century. Sketched in the countryside around his native Suffolk or conjured from his imagination, these beautiful drawings shed new light on our understanding of Gainsborough’s early career.

The drawings go on public display for the first time in a partnership between Royal Collection Trust and:

York Art Gallery
1 October 2021–13 February 2022

The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
5 March–12 June 2022

Nottingham Castle Museum
2 July–25 September 2022

The exhibition is supported by generous loans from the National Gallery, London; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and Colchester and Ipswich Museums.

Explore a selection of works that will make up the exhibition below.