The Foundling Collections include paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture, clocks and more. Some of the most moving objects are the identifying tokens left by mothers with their babies in the Hospital’s earliest years. Leading eighteenth-century British artist William Hogarth was a strong supporter of the Foundling Hospital, and we hold major works of art created and donated by him and his fellows, on loan from Coram. Alongside are contemporary works by outstanding artists such as Michael Craig-Martin CBE, Grayson Perry CBE, Yinka Shonibare CBE, and Tracey Emin CBE.
Another supporter of the Hospital was composer and philanthropist George Frideric Handel. Our Gerald Coke Handel Collection is a major research resource for study of the composer and his contemporaries. More than 14,000 items include manuscripts, printed music, books, artworks, sound recordings and ephemera.
