Coming up at The Sherborne:
From 27.04.2026
The Baron’s Metamorphoses: Myths for a Failing Admiralty - The Baron Gilvan
An immersive exhibition inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where gods, fools and admirals drift through a world of collapse, comedy and reinvention.
The Joy of the Frog - Sir Quentin Blake
A joyful new mural by Sir Quentin Blake transforms The Sherborne’s atrium staircase, creating a playful counterpoint to Thornhill’s dramatic Calydonian Boar Hunt.
Last Meal on Death Row - Mat Collishaw
Opening later in the season, Mat Collishaw’s quietly unsettling work brings a darker contemporary note to Of Myths and Murals.
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Most visitors spend 60–90 minutes in the galleries. If you’d like time to read panels, sketch, and linger, allow a little longer — and why not add lunch or coffee while you’re here?
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Yes. Our exhibitions are family-friendly unless stated otherwise.
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Please note that photography is not permitted in the Georgian House and Atrium staircase.
Sketching is very much encouraged!
A selection of images will be available in our shop as prints and postcards, if you’d like to take a little of The Sherborne home with you.
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No booking required — just drop in during our opening hours.
The galleries are open Monday–Saturday, 10:30am–4pm, and Sunday, 10:30am–3pm.
Past Exhibitions
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100 Portraits - Quentin Blake
09.01.2026 - 12.04.2026
Created exclusively for The Sherborne, these works offer a rare chance to meet Quentin Blake’s imagination now: vivid, warm, and unmistakably his. Made in the artist’s ninety-third year, the portraits are not “likenesses” of specific people, but characters that arrive through the act of drawing — a face discovered one line at a time.
Curated by Liz Gilmore
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Quentin Blake - Airborne over Sherborne
17.01.2026 - 12.04.2026
Created as a new series of drawings in 2025, these works celebrate what happens when imaginations leave the ground. There is humour here, and mischief, but also something more tender: the exhilaration of movement, the sweetness of suspension, the moment just before landing.
Curated by Liz Gilmore
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The Resurrection (The “Folke Resurrection”)
17.01.2026 - 12.04.2026
The altarpiece is attributed to Sir James Thornhill (1675–1734), celebrated for spectacular large-scale decorative painting — including the Painted Hall at Greenwich — and, closer to home, for the extraordinary mural that presides at The Sherborne. Here, Thornhill’s theatrical storytelling forms a striking counterpoint to Quentin Blake’s airborne imagination elsewhere in the house.
Curated by Tim Martin & Liz Gilmore
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Quentin Blake - A Christmas Carol
29.11.2025 - 04.01.2026
This winter, The Sherborne invites visitors into a uniquely magical experience: an intimate, candlelit display of Sir Quentin Blake’s original illustrations for Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol—exhibited on the site where Dickens himself delivered a celebrated public reading of the story in 1854.Curated by Liz Gilmore
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Quentin Blake - Our Friends in the Country
27.09.2025 - 04.01.2026
Our Friends in the Country brings Sir Quentin Blake’s figures into rural settings, endowing them with playful narratives and gentle companionship. While specific visuals may vary, the consistent use of watercolour and pen conjures delicate yet vivacious scenes – where every brushstroke is alive with possibility, seemingly embodying characters who have wandered in from a dream.
Curated by Liz Gilmore -
Recurring Intricacies
10.05.2025 - 21.09.2025
Helen Sear, Charlotte Hodes and Amanda Benson
Complimenting and celebrating the extraordinary interiors of the newly restored Grade 1 listed Georgian townhouse, The Sherborne, Recurring Intricacies brings together photography, ceramics, papercuts and sculpture made by three female artists: Helen Sear, Charlotte Hodes and Amanda Benson.
Curated by Tim Martin -
BIND
01.03.2025 - 27.04.2025
Members of Dorset Visual Arts Salon Collective present new works that explore the relationships that bind and differentiate their various approaches to making work, with a focus and exploration on colour, drawing and interdisciplinary practice.
Curated by Dorset Visual Arts
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Drawing on Dorset
10.05.2025 - 21.09.2025
The project sought to celebrate a variety of approaches to drawing, presenting observation, recording, and enquiry. It was a collection of individual perspectives bound by the common thread of the county—its character, culture, and contours, expressed and captured through thought and line.
Curated by Dorset Visual Arts