Thank you for taking the time to visit the O'Neil Appeal.

The Foundling Museum is raising money to purchase two iconic works from the Foundling Hospital Collection.  With no core public funding, we rely on the support of generous individuals so we can continue to tell the story of society’s most vulnerable members for generations to come.  

Henry Nelson O’Neil’s painting A Mother Depositing Her Child at the Foundling Hospital in Paris c.1855, is a moving depiction of the desperation felt by mothers who were forced by circumstance to give up their babies, while the Foundling Hospital Chapel Font was where thousands of foundlings were baptised and renamed from 1804.

Both items are currently owned by the children’s charity Coram and by purchasing them we will be contributing to the development of their new children’s therapy centre. Your donation will not only help us secure two wonderful works for the Museum’s Collection, you will also be supporting Coram’s valuable childcare work.

O'Neil's painting and the Font are highlights of our newly-refurbished Introductory Gallery. Please help us by donating whatever you can.

Thank you for your generous support.

Caro Howell

Director