Information for The Foundling Museum

Exhibitions currently running:

London’s Foundlings - Up to a thousand babies a year were abandoned in early 18th-century London. In 1739 Thomas Coram established a “Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Children” which looked after more than 27,000 children until its closure in 1953. The Foundling Museum tells the story of the foundlings, how they lived and displays the many poignant objects relating to their lives at the Hospital. Permanent.

Britain’s First Art Gallery - William Hogarth (1697-1764), one of the original Governors of the Foundling Hospital, encouraged leading artists of the day to donate works to the children’s home, with the aim of attracting wealthy potential benefactors.

In doing so, he created Britain’s first public exhibition space, which became a centre of artistic experimentation and led to the formation of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. Today the collection contains works by Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Wilson, Hayman, Highmore, Roubiliac and Rysbrack, displayed in fully restored interiors – as they would have been seen by visitors to the original Hospital in the 1700s. Permanent

The Foundling Museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, England's first home for abandoned children. The Museum also holds the nationally-important Foundling Hospital art collection, a remarkable collection of eighteenth century paintings and sculptures, brought about by the involvement of the painter William Hogarth who not only donated works himself but encouraged his fellow artists to do the same making the Foundling Hospital England's first public art gallery. The Museum is also home to the Gerald Coke Handel Collection, the largest privately-owned collection of Handel memorabilia, which reflects the Hospital's early links with the composer George Frideric Handel, who performed benefit concerts in the Hospital's chapel.

The Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square
London WC1N 1AZ

Please note that all titles and dates of exhibitions are subject to confirmation. For further information please telephone the museum on 0207 841 3600 or look at their website: www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk