The Foundling Hospital, London

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The Foundling Hospital, London
The Foundling Hospital, London
The Foundling Hospital, London
Coram in the care of the Foundling Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
The Foundling Hospital, London
Date
Dated on tablet at base of frame: 1746
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 56 x 56 cm diameter
Imperial: 22 x 22 in. diameter
Accession Number
BN 86
Wilson Online Reference
P18
Description
The view is of the Foundling Hospital, Bloomsbury, as seen from surrounding fields.
Exhibited
Manchester 1857 (Modern Masters, 149); London 1925 (16); London, 25 Park Lane, 1938 (29); London Tate Gallery, Manners and Morals, 1988 (170); YCBA and Kensington Palace, London, 2017 Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte, and the Shaping of the modern World (25.04)
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
Techniques and materials
Pale pink/orange ground. On cleaning by Clare Wilkins in 1998 it was found that there were areas of the sky which were quite thin. Initial drawing visible in one or two places in the architecture.
Verso inscriptions
[1] Upper quadrant, white chalk: 63 [?]
[2] Right quadrant white chalk: No 5
[3] Left quadrant white chalk: Foundling Hospt
Labels
Recto: Small printed square label affixed to tablet at base of frame: 75
Verso: [1] Upper quadrant: Manchester | ART TREASURES | Foundling
[2] Upper quadrant: Illegible fragment
[3] Upper quadrant: Illegible fragment
[4] Right quadrant: The Tate Gallery | Thomas Coram Foundling | Richard Wilson | [illegible] | Manners and Morals: Hogarth | and British Painting 1700-1765 | 13 Oct - 3 Jan 1989
Subject
The Foundling Hospital was still under construction in 1746, on a site approximately where Woburn Square is today. Only the West Wing for boys was complete, although Wilson has omitted any evidence of this, presumably in order to present an idealised image.
Related Paintings
Pendant P19 St George's Hospital, The Foundling Museum, London
Critical commentary
P18 and P19 were 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 the same size, the others were 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 by gilt oak leaves and acorns, embellished by painted foliage and garlands.
Previous Cat/Ref Nos
75; FM 65
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. 271; Waterhouse 1953, p. 174; WGC, p. 180, pl. 43a; B. Nicolson & J.F. Kerslake, The Treasures of the Foundling Hospital, 1972, pp. 81-82. no. 86, pl. 56; E.K. Waterhouse, British 18th Century Painters in Oils and Crayons, Woodbridge 1981; Solkin 1982, pp. 149-50 under no. 8; J. Marschner et al., eds, Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte, and the Shaping of the modern World, 1987, p. 420
Link to WG Constable Archive Record
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: 66.4 x 66.3 cm including tablet. Canvas primed and stretched. Relined 1973-74. 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).