Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital was established in London by the sea captain Thomas Coram, who had been 'shocked by the sight of infants exposed in the streets, abandoned by their parents, 'left to die on dung hills''. Coram's portrait was painted by his friend William Hogarth and presented to the hospital:
W. Hogarth Pinxt. W. Nutter sculpt.
London, Published Dec. 1. 1796, by R. Cribb, No.288 Holborn.
Stipple, 580 x 405mm. 22¾ x 16". Light foxing, mostly marginal. One tear to lower margin.
[Ref: 11732] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)
A founding Governor of the hospital was the barrister John Milner, who had a major influence on the development of the hospital. His portrait was painted by Thomas Hudson and presented to the hospital, from which this engraving was made:
Done from the Painting given by Mr. Hudson to the Foundling Hospital by J. Faber
Mezzotint, sheet 50 x 35cm
trimmed to image, creased.
£60 + VAT
The hospital was established by Royal Charter, which George II signed in 1739. George's wife Queen Caroline was also sympathetic to the plight of foundlings, and wrote a pamphlet about the Hospital for Foundlings in Paris, published posthumously. This pair of portraits shows George and Caroline before they came to the throne:
G. Kneller Eq: Baronet pinx. 1717 [&] 1716. Geo: Vertue Londini Sculp: 1724.
London Sold by G. Vertue at his house in Brownlow Street. Drury Lane.
Pair of engravings, sheets c.460 x 340mm. 18 x 13½".
[Ref: 11680] £480
The hospital was built from 1742-5 in Lamb's Conduit Fields, not far from our shop in the centre of London:
Original hand coloured etching and engraving, 170 x 275mm. 6¾ x 10¾". Crease just into plate upper left.
[Ref: 9589] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)
With a chapel to which Handel donated an organ, and where he gave performances of Messiah with the choir which he himself taught:
Foundling Hospital, the Chapel
Pugin & Rowlandson delt & sculpt, J. Bluck Aquat.t
Published by R. Ackermann, 1808
£160 + VAT
The Foundling Hospital and its maintenance was satirised by James Sayers in 'The Founding Chapel Brawl', from which this scene is taken:
Designed in two compartments.
Aquatint with etching. 250 x 180mm, 9¾ x 7". Some minor foxing.
A committee of dressed animals and birds,
including a bear, fox, dog, cat, monkey, pigeon, owl and bull, seated
at a meeting of the Chapel Committee in a dignified room with sash
window, large pictures, and chimney-piece. The Chairman in back view
seems a man and is identified as Thomas Everett, President of the
Hospital, while the members including Thomas Bernard, a Philanthropist,
Dr. Willain, Owen Parr have the heads of animals. The lunette scene is
"Charity". This engraving is one from a set of six satire produced by
Sayers to accompany huis own verse " Foundling Chapel Brawl" which
relates to the Committees treatment of Elizabeth Sayers [ ? Sister] in
being removed from the Governors Pew. The BM impression carries the
verse from the poem 'Besides - I deem it a disgrace / In public thus to
lend my face /To such a set of pew-men.' 1805.
BM:10468 See BM:10465-10470. [Ref: 17509] £230
The following sheet would have been supplied to foundlings leaving the hospital (once they were around fourteen years old):
[n.d., c.1820.]
Two bound letterpress broadsheets, large 4to (320 x 235mm, 12½ x 9¼"), with engraved vignette on overlaid india paper.
The text exhorts 'graduates' leaving London's Foundling Hospital to lead a virtuous and industrious life.
[Ref: 10931] £320
While this songsheet was 'humbly presented to all my Worthy Masters and Mistresses, of the Foundling Estate':
Wood engraved broadsheet. Sheet 510 x 420mm, 20 x 16½". Laid on linen, some creasing and spotting.
A broadsheet with verse surrounded by scenes from the life of Christ.
[Ref: 12759] £260
The Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury, which cares for the hospital collection, displays the fine art collection which the hospital assembled, as other distinguished artists followed Hogarth in donating works to decorate the hospital. Hogarth's painting of 'The March to Finchley' can be seen:
Invented & Painted by W.m Hogarth. [Engraved by J. June?]
[n.d, c.1770.]
Engraving. Sheet 170 x 275mm, 6¾ x 10¾".
From a reduced edition of Hogarth's collected works, with other plates signed by J. June.
[Ref: 27147] £45.00 (£54.00 incl.VAT)
along with other Hogarth engravings demonstrating his concern for London's children, including The Enraged Musician, and plates from the Four Times of Day, Harlot's Progress, and Industry and Idleness.
Another Hogarth painting in the Foundling Hospital Art Collection is Moses and the Pharaoh's Daughter, which resonates with the the work of the Hospital:
From the Original Painting in the Foundling Hospital Engraved by Willm. Hogarth & Luke Sullivan.
Published as the Act directs Febry. 5. 1752.
Copper engraving. Plate 420 x 520mm. 16½ x 20½".
Paulson: 193: IV of IV.
[Ref: 14449] £250
Another artist who followed Hogarth by donating work to the collection was George Lambert, the 'father of English landscape' conspicuously absent from the Royal Academy's landscape exhibition.
This print was engraved, from a picture which now hangs adjacent to Hogarth's March to Finchley in the Foundling Museum:
'From a Picture presented to the Foundling Hospital'Mason after Lambert, 1761
engraving, sheet 48 x 40cm
£160 + VAT
Next to the Hogarth portrait of Coram in the Governor's Court Room hangs a portrait by Alan Ramsay of Richard Mead, the great 18th century collector and physician, depicted here in an etching originating from a different image:
Arth. Pond, fecit 1739.
Etching, 220 x 160mm. 8¾ x 6¼". One stain spot.
Dr Richard Mead (1673 - 1754), physician and great collector in many fields, including prints. In profile, here rather unusually depicted without his wig.
By Arthur Pond (1701 - 1758), painter, publisher, dealer, restorer, printmaker and collector.
NPG: D5241.
[Ref: 11688] £130.00 (£156.00 incl.VAT)
The collection also owns a bust by Roubiliac of Handel. Roubiliac also sculpted the marble statue of Handel which stood in Vauxhall Gardens in the 18th century (now in the Victoria & Albert Museum) and from which this engraving derives:
B. Rebecca del. F. Bartolozzi sculp.
Pub.d Jan.y 1. 1789 by J Arnold.
Stipple. 368 x 255mm. 14½ x 10". Rubbing, trimmed to plate mark.
From the Collection of J.S. Bumpus.
[Ref: 17181] £220
The museum also houses the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, which displays, among many fascinating artefacts relating to the composer, a ticket to the Messiah:
R: Smirk pinx.t F. Haward sculp.t R.A,
Publish'd 19 May 1749.
Stipple. 249 x 190mm. 9¾ x 7½".
[Ref: 21144] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)
...and this print of the King's Theatre on Haymarket, where many of Handel's operas had their premieres:
Published 21st Jan.y 1818 by Ja.s Whittle & Rich.d H. Laurie, No. 53 Fleet Street London.
Coloured engraving. 285 x 430mm, 11¼ x 17". Framed. Unexamined out of the frame.
[Ref: 17745] £260
