Foundling Museum

The final weekly lecture before the Christmas holidays, linked back to all the lectures we previously had throughout term. We were asked to visit the Foundling Museum - a hospital which was London's first home for abandoned children. The museum was restored and refurbished and built adjacent to the site of the original Hospital.

When I visited, I looked around at the various exhibitions, comprising of modern art from today and traditional paintings that were donated as part of the hospital art collection in the 18th century, where it became a public gallery. Where as the 18th century paintings make the story of the Foundling honest and real, the modern art acts as more of an interpretation.

An intriguing piece of art donated to the museum is Tracey Emin's bronze cast - 'Baby Things, Mitten', found on the railings outside the museum.

I think the representation of the mitten is bittersweet. On the one hand, it's symbolic of loss and abandonment - perching on the fence as a disowned object. Nevertheless it sits there poised and hopeful of a better future. A mitten provides warmth and protection from the outside, which is essentially what the Foundling offered - a shelter and safe haven for abandoned children. The charity still continues to care for children today.