Embroidered sampler depicting the Foundling Hospital in 1763

Sarah Anne Quartermain (1815-unknown)

Foundling Museum

1825

This is the first depiction by a child of the Foundling Hospital to enter the museum's collection. The artist was 10 year-old Sarah Ann Quartermain who was probably a foundling. Needlework was a major part of the girls' education at the Hospital and samplers are a unique personal example of a young girl's needlework accomplishments. Her image has been adapted from a print of 1763, separating and flattening out each of the building's various elements -chapel, boys' and girls' wings, the forecourt, the side colonades, the front gate - all peopled with naively scaled carriages, visitors and foundling children as well as bystanders and a couple strolling a dog.

• Medium: embroidered fabric
• Dimensions: 50.8 x 50.8cm
• Art Fund Grant: £5500 ( Total: £10,350)
• ArtFunded in: 2010
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

Bought by the consignor at a small, local auction. The work has been vetted by the Art Loss Register.

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