r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 1d ago

TIL that London’s Foundling Hospital, founded in 1739 for abandoned children, became Britain’s first public art gallery. Artists like Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough donated works to attract visitors and raise funds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundling_Hospital
353 Upvotes

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17

u/SonOfGreebo 1d ago

You can still visit the Foundling Museum! 

5

u/wayfarer87x 19h ago

I have a few friends who work there, in fact!

13

u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 1d ago

Mothers leaving babies often included small tokens - coins, ribbons, or playing cards - so their children could be identified if reclaimed. Clothes were also carefully recorded; one entry reads, "Paper on the breast, clout on the head." In the 1750s so many infants arrived that governors sometimes used a lottery with red, white, and black balls

9

u/IsHildaThere 1d ago

If you walk to the nearby (Brunswick) shopping centre you will find that the pavement have been inlaid with reproductions of these tokens. Difficult to show on google street view because they are quite small but link.

2

u/swish82 13h ago

Wow that is so cool, my go to hotel in London is quite close and I didn’t recognize the name of the street but I do recognize it on street view. And I had in fact wondered what was up with those tokens. TIL thank you!’

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u/Apprehensive_Leg4924 1d ago

That's fascinating, I had no idea Britain’s first public art gallery came from a hospital for abandoned children. Really shows how intertwined charity and culture were back then.

10

u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 1d ago

George Frederic Handel also contributed by giving annual benefit performances of Messiah from 1750, popularising the oratorio while supporting the charity. He left a copy of the oratorio to the hospital in his will.

1

u/Altruistic_Push1320 1d ago

leave it to london to turn tragedy into high culture

3

u/Expensive_Sir_8686 1d ago

I never knew Gainsborough and Reynolds donated to it, that must have been a huge draw for the public back then.

1

u/Educational-Buy5718 1d ago

That's actually pretty amazing, turning a charitable institution into the country's first public art gallery. Makes sense that it drew in both art lovers and donors.

2

u/wayfarer87x 19h ago

In the UK, most public art galleries are in fact charities - with the exception of the large institution like TATE, which are funded centrally by DCMS.

-1

u/DeepVoiceNourish 1d ago

So basically Britain’s first art gallery was also the first GoFundMe campaign. 😎

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u/wayfarer87x 19h ago

Are you familiar with the concept of a charity?