Foundling Museum

📢 Our exhibition ‘A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music’ is being extended and is now open until 31 May! ⁠ ⁠ Come along to explore how music connects us, through the lens of Handel’s iconic ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. ⁠ ⁠ Set across all four floors of the Museum, discover musical scores, instruments, paintings, audio and archive material spanning three centuries. ⁠ ⁠ The exhibition is also the first time Mikhail Karikis’ (@mikhailkarikis ) installation ‘We Are Together Because...’ is on display in the UK, joining us from @camgulbenkian . ⁠ ⁠ 🎟️ Book your exhibition ticket on our website or through the link in our bio ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 📸Mikhail Karikis, We are Together Because..., 2025 © Mikhail Karikis Commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The work is part of the CAM Gulbenkian Collection⁠ ⁠ #LondonExhibition⁠ #ToDoLondon

When the Foundling Hospital was established in 1739, it was often accused of encouraging promiscuity, as the Hospital took in children born out of wedlock. ⁠ ⁠ The 18th-century ballad ‘Joyful News to Batchelors and Maids’ made fun of the Hospital, saying women could pass as ‘maids’ after going there. ⁠ ⁠ Author and historian Julie Peakman (julie_peakman) reflects on these judgements women faced, and wider attitudes around women and sex in the 18th century

A token that left its mark 🧡   This token was left with a baby boy at the Foundling Hospital in June 1756. A very simple, very common object, it nonetheless may have been incredibly precious—materially and symbolically—to the woman that left it with her child. 🎙️Learn more about what this token can tell us about women’s style and fashion in the 18th-century with fashion historian Dr Serena Dyer (@dressing.history ) in our Take This Token podcast, at the link in our bio.

We're reminiscing on when @choiroftheearth filled the Foundling Museum with music 🎶⁠ ⁠ This incredible day celebrated the power of collective music-making, led by conductor Ben England. ⁠ ⁠ The choir performed Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus', with the impact of this iconic composition explored in our current exhibition.⁠ ⁠ Thank you to everyone who sang with us! There's a few weeks left to still catch 'A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music' - open until 31 May 🎼⁠

Spinning into the weekend like 🌀 📷 Foundling Hospital pupils playing Farmer in the Dell while at summer camp, c. 1920s–30s

What do you do when you find a lost mitten? 🧤 Watch Museum volunteer Robin show us his favourite, and one of the most overlooked, items in our Collection: a tiny bronze baby’s mitten by Dame Tracey Emin (@traceyeminstudio ). Originally created for the Folkestone Triennial, ‘Baby Things, Mitten’ was part of a series of small bronze sculptures depicting ‘lost’ baby items, including a teddy bear, a little shoe, and this mitten. This cast was made for our 2010 show ‘Mat Collishaw, Tracey Emin and Paula Rego: at the Foundling’. 🔎 Tracey Emin DBE, ‘Baby Things, Mitten’, 2008

Looking for something for the kids this half-term? 🍎 Join us at the Foundling Museum for a week of fun-filled creative family workshops. From fabric doll making to mixing up your own scented soaps, there’s plenty to get involved with this holiday! 🎟️ Follow the link in our bio to find out more.

Have you seen our newest acquisition? 🖼️     This unusual view of the Foundling Hospital was painted by artist and art critic Roger Fry. The Hospital was a familiar sight for the artists of the Bloomsbury Group, and several members, including Fry and Duncan Grant, depicted it in their work. Between 1911 and 1912, several of the Bloomsbury Group, including Grant, Virginia Woolf and John Maynard Keynes lived in a house next door to the Foundling Hospital site.  Fry has changed several aspects of the layout, including adding a memorial or fountain in the foreground. The white turret in the centre belonged to a different nearby building but would not have been visible from the viewpoint Fry uses.    Despite the handwritten note by Grant, who owned the work, on the back that reads ‘The Foundling Hospital’, our Collections team took a lot of care to confirm that this is in fact a depiction of the Hospital because of the changes Fry made. For example, there’s a barely visible swirl of paint that we believe mimics the clock that hung on the main building. One key clue to its identity was the branch that hangs over the foreground, which can be seen in other prints and photographs of the Hospital.     We are very grateful to the Bullen-Purse-Wall Bequest for this wonderful gift.    🔍 Roger Fry (1866–1934), ‘The London Foundling Hospital’, c.1910–30

Today marks 276 years since Handel first performed ‘Messiah’ at the Foundling Hospital 🎼⁠ ⁠ He had given his first benefit concert the year before, but it was in 1750 when he first performed his iconic composition. Handel’s lifelong commitment to benefit concerts raised £7000 for the Hospital, which would be the equivalent of £1.5 million today!⁠ ⁠ 🎶 Discover the impact of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in our exhibition, ‘A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music’, closing 31 May⁠

LAST CHANCE TO ORDER ⏳ Release ends 7th May at 17:00 GMT ‘The Changeling’, a new limited-edition print by friend of the Museum Grayson Perry (@alanmeasles ), is now available for purchase for 1 week only from today until 7 May. A beautiful 9-colour silkscreen edition, ‘The Changeling’ is available exclusively through @avant.arte . The Foundling Museum will receive a portion of proceeds from every edition sold, and each edition will be individually numbered and signed. In this work Perry reinterprets ‘changeling’ folklore for the digital age. He describes the artwork as intentionally ‘quite disturbing’, reflecting on how digital culture and AI are shaping our sense of self and challenging us to rethink identity, belonging, and what truly makes us human. ⬆️ Head to the link in our bio to find out more. Release ends 7 May at 17:00 UK time. #GraysonPerry

Why were so many tiny textile swatches used as Foundling Hospital tokens? ⁠ Mothers gave tokens when they left their babies in the care of the Hospital, as a way to identify their child. ⁠ ⁠ Fabric tokens were by far the most common form of token. These simple swatches of fabric were taken from the clothing worn by mothers and their babies, and now form the largest collection of 18th-century working-class everyday fabrics in Britain. ⁠ ⁠ The tokens were typically colourful, patterned pieces of fabrics, with ⁠ each piece telling a unique story of a child’s admission to the Foundling Hospital. ⁠ ⁠ 🎥 Head to our profile to watch a recent film with John Styles, who previously curated an exhibition on these fabrics

'Music is the vehicle through which they come together' 🎶⁠ ⁠ Artist Mikhail Karikis (@mikhailkarikis ) reflects on his installation 'We Are Together Because…', ⁠ ⁠ This work was created with a group of music students from @conservatorio_artallis and celebrates how music has the power to connect and unite us, especially in times of uncertainty and division.⁠ ⁠ 🎟️ See Karikis' installation as part of 'A Grand Chorus: The Power of Music'⁠, closing 31 May⁠ ⁠ 📷 Photographs by Estamos Juntos Porque / Group photograph by Pedro Pina / We Are Together Because…, 2025, by Mikhail Karikis was commissioned by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and is part of the CAM Gulbenkian Collection (@camgulbenkian )