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The Foundling A smiling baby, wrapped in a white cloth, is the visual center of this horizontal composition. An elderly woman holds the child on the table. She is wrapped in several layers of drab colored clothing, wears a bonnet and red shawl. The woman hands a piece of paper to the gentlemen on the right. These gentlemen, one sitting at the head of the table, are engaged in active conversation. On the table in front of them are papers. Immediately below them on the floor, a wastebasket holds wrinkled papers and a trunk is opened to reveal more papers and books. To the right, two men stand and are engaged in a casual conversation. A window at the far right creates a strong light source and illuminates the old woman and child. Although tiny, the whiteness of the paper in the old woman's hand stands out due to the subdued colors surrounding it. With a length of cloth connecting them a visual connection is created to the paper and child. At left, three men - their faces highlighted - are engaged in active conversation. Their facial expressions vary. Closer to the center, another gentleman looks down towards the child, his head in his hand. With his back to the viewer, a fifth gentleman holds a paper and quill in his hands. He too faces the child, while pointing the quill in its direction. An inkwell rests in front of him on the table and a large leather bound book leans against his chair. Both the background and foreground are taken up with the fittings of a non-descript, plain official room. Several framed pieces hang on the wall, and, as they are in the shadows, they serve as compositional devices. The implied line of the composition, a line of illuminated men's heads viewed from the side, moves from left to right. The child's head, facing front, is at the lowest level. A visual connection to the elderly woman's face is made through the line of her wrap and red shawl. Background The Parish Board of Guardians, established by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, was responsible for naming and raising foundling babies. Eventually, most of the orphaned and/or abandoned children's fate included squalid workhouses and the Workhouse School. Some were later sent to work in the factories. This composition centers on an innocent child, its face illuminated in the light from the window, unaware of its fate. The child, active and curious about objects on the table, is the focus of conversation, concern and logistics of the gentlemen that surround him. With the white paper, the elderly woman hands over the responsibility of the child, one that she is physically connected to, to the Parish Board who will then decide it's placement. There is no human touch or physical compassion for the child among these men. The child becomes just another number. Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children.The _____ day of _____, received a _____ child. _____Secretary. Note: Let this be carefully kept, that it may be produced whenever an inquiry is made after the health of the child (which may be done on Mondays between the hours of ten and four), and also in case the child should be claimed.. Household Words; Charles Dickens writing about the Thomas Coram Hospital
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