St George's Hospital, London

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Artist

Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)

Title

St George's Hospital, London

Date

Dated on tablet at base of frame: 1746

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Metric: 56 x 55 cm diameter
Imperial: 22 x 21 5/8 in. diameter

Collection

The Foundling Museum, London. To license image, click here.

Accession Number

BN 85

Wilson Online Reference

P19

Description

St George's Hospital is seen from the north-west, looking from Hyde Park across Knightsbridge

Exhibited

Manchester 1857 (Modern Masters, 164); London 1925 (12); Old London, 25 Park Lane 1938 (28); Munich 1958 (223); Kenwood 1967 (28); London, Tate Gallery & The Hague, Mauritshuis 1971, Shock of Recognition: The Landscape of English Romanticism and the Dutch seventeenth-century School (49); London, Cardiff and New Haven, 1982-83 (8); London Tate Gallery, Manners and Morals 1988 (169)

Provenance

Presented to the Foundling Hospital by the artist in 1746, when he was elected Governor; first recorded there 1751.

Signature/inscription

Unsigned; no inscription

Verso inscriptions

[1] Left upright stretcher white chalk: Foundling Hosp. [part covered by label]
[2] Lower horizontal stretcher white chalk: [illegible]

Labels

Subject

St George's Hospital was designed in 1733 by Isaac Ware and established in Lanesborough House at Hyde Park Corner. As with the Foundling Hospital (depicted in P18) the location was felt to be ideal in respect of public health as it was then on the edge of London, next to open countryside. It was rebuilt by William Wilkins 1828-1832.

Related Paintings

Pendant P18 The Foundling Hospital, The Foundling Museum, London

Critical commentary

P18 and P19 are two of eight round views of London hospitals and educational institutions displayed in the General Court Room of the Foundling Hospital, now part of the Foundling Museum. All are the same size and date from 1746 to 1748. The others are by Gainsborough (The Charterhouse); Samuel Wale (Christ's Hospital, St Thomas's Hospital, Greenwich Hospital): and Edward Haytley (Bethlem Hospital and Chelsea Hospital). They are framed in roundels of gilt oak leaves and acorns, embellished by painted foliage and garlands.

Previous Cat/Ref Nos

74; FM 66

Bibliography

Booth Notes Doc. 5, p. 3; Brownlow 1847, pp. 57-59; Whitley 1700-1799, vol. 1, p. 163; R.H. Nichols & F.A. Wray, The History of the Foundling Hospital, 1935, pp. 251, 261-62, repr. opp. p. 270; Ford 1951, p. 16; Waterhouse 1953, p. 174; WGC, pp. 76, 180, pl. 43b; B. Nicolson & J.F. Kerslake, The Treasures of the Foundling Hospital, 1972, pp. 81-82. no. 85, pl. 55; J. Harris, The Artist and the Country House, 1979, p. 271. fig. 292; E.K. Waterhouse, British 18th Century Painters in Oils and Crayons, Woodbridge 1981, Solkin 1982, pp. 149-150

Link to WG Constable Archive Record

WGC/1/1/50

More Information

The Court Room of the Foundling Hospital was one of the first public spaces for the display of British art, presenting a major opportunity to impress wealthy patrons. Wilson intended P18 and P19 to be advertisements for his skills as an estate painter and classical artist.

Condition/Conservation

Dimensions framed: 65.8 x 65 x 6.2 cm including tablet. The foreground has a large pentimento, visible in X-ray. The original carved gilded and gessoed frame was probably the work of William Hallett (c.1707-1781), paid £11.4s. 'For 8 carved oval frames for pictures' on November 15th 1746 (Ms Book of Furniture, Foundling Museum Archive, LMA Research 007).

Updated by Compiler

06/04/2020

St George's Hospital, London

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