| Abstract | This essay examines the visual images of the London Foundling Hospital used to promote and campaign for a charity that was considered extremely dubious. These include visual portrayals that illustrate the running of the Hospital, history paintings of biblical scenes involving children, images produced to accompany important documentation such as tickets for fundraisers and the Hospital's charter and portraits of the founding members that adorned the main halls of the Hospital. Rather than being merely decorative, these works portrayed several views of the Hospital in an attempt to inform people of what exactly the charity was doing and how it was being run. These images served a dual purpose: they would serve as a reminder of Britain's own talent in the field of history painting and they would also work in tandem with the related prints by reminding English citizens that saving these children and grooming them to be useful members of society was a worthy cause, in keeping with the newly-acquired charitable interests of the burgeoning middle class. By using prints in a concentrated effort to change the prevailing attitude that an institution for abandoned children would `be a promotion of Wickedness', the Foundling Hospital was not only changing the role of charity in society, but also the way in which visual culture was used as a means to convey a growing sense of morality that was benevolent, compassionate and uniquely English. |
