The Geffrye, Museum of the Home explores the history of the home, with a particular emphasis on the homes of the urban middle classes in England, with collections comprising of furnishings, pictures and ornaments from the past 400 years. The Museum has concentrated on collecting paintings directly connected to the history of the home. The main strength of the collection is a steadily growing group of paintings depicting urban middle class homes and gardens, which includes an early, particularly well-documented conversation piece by Thomas Bardwell from 1736 and Frank Stanton’s painting of his own Islington home in 1968. As well as providing evidence of the material culture of domestic spaces, such as detailed depictions of furnishings and decoration, many of the paintings provide insights into the values, interests and concerns which have informed the domestic life of this particular social group. In addition, examples of paintings that could have been purchased by middle class consumers for their own homes have been acquired for display in the period rooms. The Geffrye is now closed for a two year transformational development project, reopening in early 2020. Please visit our website for more information.