British Museum: The Exciting Conclusion

On our last full day in London, August 30th, we made our final visit--for this campaign--to the British Museum. Again, we were thwarted. The classical stuff we wanted to see was closed; still. Maintenance issues, we were told. We decided to look at the norteamericano archaeological stuff instead, and then spent the rest of our visit in Room #1, the former King's Library, later the British Library, and now the Museum's "Enlightenment" room (really a long hall), a hugely interesting collection in which the Museum reflects on its origins and founders, the Age, and its role in that Age and the growth of the sciences. This is museum introspection, which we are seeing more and more, especially in those institutions that have become more than the sum of their collections. 

In the American West, native costumes, etc.;

of which we saw plenty in our 13 years in Montana;

I had the privilege of knowing and working for

a variety tribal leaders, writers, and others in

those years

Smoking pipe; the stem would be wood; I bought one, not this
elaborate, in Pipestone, MN, in 1972; even smoked kinnikkinnick in it,
setting off fire alarms...

Possibly a Green River knife...acquired from
fur traders

Moving further north, this is an Aleut hat and cape,
made from sea mammal gut, cut, scraped and dried,
then sewn together with sinew...the cat would
definitely follow you around if you were wearing this 

Now we are south of the border

Most incredible find of the day: the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, a 14th
century painted screen fold-book, detailing the Mixtec dynasties
from the 8th century on...see description below

Pretty incredible!

Turquoise mosaic mask, Mixtec/Aztec, 15th century

Now we are in Room #1, the former King's Library, then, until
1997 or so, the British Library; when we first came to the British
Museum in 1979, it was still the Library...

Now the Enlightenment Room, as explained above...representing
how knowledge was organized in the days of the Museum's founding,
its contributions to that knowledge and organization...etc.

A New Zealand ceremonial axe, "brought by 
Captain Cook"; the age of exploration brought
many items to the Museum

Medallions of Cook apparently were popular both
before and after his death; this is a posthumous one

Sir Joseph Banks; accompanied Cook on the first

south seas voyage as botanist; associated with both

the Kew and the British Museum as a contributor, 

trustee

The age of great wealth accumulation in Britain depended
crucially on slavery and the Atlantic slave trade; here and
elsewhere the Museum is very candid and apologetic about
this; above, a depiction of an 18th century slave ship

Cases and cases of scientific instruments of the era

Also cases and cases of vases and other artifacts from
the ancient Mediterranean world, amassed by collectors, 
antiquarians, early archaeologists

Mosaic from Pompeii

The original flint axes that that began queries
about how long people had been in Britain...

Cases and cases of jade axes and other artifacts
collected and donated in the 18th and 19th centuries

The William Allen box...three trays of an antiquary's collection
of Roman/British artifacts; here, mostly silver pins and brooches

"Ancient" rapier, swords, and spear-head from a peat bog find in 1741;
pre-Roman; found without use of metal detector too!

So now we have moved on from room #1 to rooms #2 and #3,
where are displayed a few gifts from prominent members/collectors,
specifically, in #3, Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, of Waddesdon,
pictured above

The Ulm Book Cover, silver and parcel gilt, New Testament,
pre-Reformation, from the Ulm Munster (cathedral); nice, huh, Mel?

So if anyone needs gift ideas for me, an amber
beer tankard (silver gilt, of course) like this would
be nice; must be dishwasher safe, however;
Koenigsburg, mid-17th

Holy Thorn Reliquary, Paris, about 1400; enameled
gold; rubies, sapphires, and pearls (oh my!); Holy
Thorn not included

Exit through the gift shop; one among many gift shops at the
Museum; only this one is still in the King's Room area, so the
merchandise appears on the original old book and display cases

Thus; nice concluding touch! Bye, British Museum!

The Foundling Museum

The Foundling Museum was right around the corner from our flat, and I had vowed not to leave London without seeing it. My reasons were: 1) its noble cause, 2) its being the first English charity for the welfare of children, and 3) its being England's (and possibly Europe's (?) (humanity's (?)) first art museum, as we now know the thing. Also 4) the top floor is the Handel museum. Our flat is on Handel St. 

Long story short: Thomas Coram made his fortune building ships in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 1700s, and then retired back to London, where he was appalled by the condition of street children there. He resolved to do something about it, and spent a decade or more petitioning the king for a royal charter for a foundlings' hospital. He succeeded in that task, at length, and then set about securing funding from among the great artists of the day...initially Hogarth (painting and print subscriptions) and Handel (concert subscriptions), Gainsborough and Reynolds (come to the museum, pay the entrance fee, see their works), and in later generations, the likes of Dickens and James Barrie, who donated royalties from Peter Pan to the charity. The hospital moved away from London in subsequent centuries, but is succeeded locally by Coram charities, a huge youth complex, and the Foundling Museum, situated now just next to the University of London School of Pharmacy. DeTocqueville said that in the matter of great causes, the French look to their bureaucracy, and the English look to a great man...Coram.

The Foundling Museum

Statue of Coram

Inside, part of the original staircase in the boys' wing; iron spikes
were installed to prevent the boys from sliding down..

Thomas-Benjamin Kennington, The Pinch of
Poverty, 1891; Kennington mostly did portraits
for the wealthy and related social scenes; but did
an important social realism series; this beautiful
painting greets the visitor...

Upper floor and art

Thomas Wills, Little Children Brought to Christ, 1746

Hogarth, Moses Brought Before Pharaoh's Daughter, 1746

Charles Brooking, A Flagship before the wind, under Easy Sail..
apparently Turner got his ideas for titles from this guy; here to reflect
Coram's association with the sea, presumably

Hogarth, Captain Thomas Coram, 1740

Sir Josh (Reynolds), Portrait of Sir William Legge;
1757; Legge was the Earl of Dartmouth, and vice
president of the Foundling Hospital for half a century;
Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, was named 
for him

Bust of Handel by Roubiliac; now on the Handel floor

School of Thomas Hudson, George Frederic Handel, 1737

Assorted contemporaneous busts of Handel; pretty famous guy

Assorted documents relating to Handel

Ticket to Messiah

Letter from Handel concerning writing and success of Messiah;
the English were very unhappy it had its first performance in Dublin

Part of the Handel Library at the Foundling Museum

Despite what you may have heard, Handel was very
much a "life of the party" sort of guy...

John Roque's Map of London, 1746; showing
relevant Handelian sites, and the Foundling
Hospital; and, where are living

Now at the entrance to the foundlings' part of the Foundlings
Museum; click to enlarge; very, very well worth reading

Henry Nelson O'Neil, A Mother Depositing Her
Child at the Foundling Hospital in Paris, 1855

Certainly the most moving display at the museum is this, of the
items left by mothers to identify their babies, should they ever 
be able to be re-united...

Girls uniforms; once accepted, an infant was sent off to foster
parents outside of London for care; at age 4-5, they were returned
to the Foundling Hospital for bringing up and schooling

Perhaps out of place, but not, really: Hogarth's March of the Guards
to Finchley, 1750; concerning the 1745 Scottish rebellion,
totally satirical; Hogarth put the painting to sale in a lottery of 2000
tickets, the proceeds going to the Foundling Hospital; the last
unsold 167 tickets he donated to the Hospital; not surprisingly,
it won...such was Coram's marketing genius

Sophia Anderson, Foundling Girls in the Chapel, mid 19th century

A beautiful set of paintings by Emma Brownlaw, 1850s, depicting
life at the Hospital

The most poignant of which is The Foundling Restored to Its Mother, 1858