• Past Exhibitions
  • Made in York
  • The Genius of Grinling Gibbons
  • Savage Satire
  • The Georgian Edit
  • In Pursuit of Pleasure
  • A Century of Shoes
  • Consuming Passions
• Museum Partners

Made in York

Inventing & Enlightening the Georgian City

5 MAY – 12 NOVEMBER 2017

Pioneering ideas, great inventions, ground-breaking discoveries, objects of beauty, innovation, artistry and craftsmanship and the people behind their creation…

These products of York’s age of Enlightenment are as rich as their impact is far-reaching. Made in York celebrates the wealth of this Georgian city’s inventive and enlightened output through the long eighteenth century (1670-1830).

York’s pages of history are strewn with astronomers, mathematicians, horologists and zoologists through to world-class scholars, celebrated painters, sculptors, architects and cabinetmakers. This is the story of those people who made this city a crucible for enlightened thought, intellectual creativity and a centre for exquisite craftsmanship throughout the Georgian age.

York nurtured some of the greatest names such as Grinling Gibbons, Thomas Chippendale, Laurence Sterne, John Goodricke, John Flaxman and Joseph Rose, leaders in each of their metiers. But behind these icons are some lesser-known pioneers; Made in York rediscovers their rich and eclectic collective legacy, and the rare objects and often forgotten triumphs that they have left for future generations.

For the first time, this landmark exhibition will be showcased throughout the townhouse, vividly animating both Fairfax House’s beautiful period rooms and its exhibition gallery.