The Hall, Blue Coat School

Thomas Rowlandson|Rudolph Ackermann, London|Auguste Charles Pugin|John Hill

March 1, 1808 · Hand-colored etching and aquatint · Drawings and Prints

Edward VI founded the first bluecoat school in 1552 and it was housed in Christ's Hospital, Greyfriars, Newgate Street, London. A charitable institution, it educated poor children and, by the eighteenth-century sixty schools following this model existed in other parts of England. The students wear a distinctive blue uniform, a color associated with charity, paired with yellow stockings with white bands. Two here address assembled supporters and masters in an impressive hall. Buildings opposite St. Paul's Cathedral were destroyed in the Fire of London in 1666, and then rebuilt to designs by Sir Christopher Wren. Shown in this print, they survived until bombed during the Second World War. Today, the school has moved to West Sussex and is supported by a charitable foundation.

Artist

Thomas Rowlandson|Rudolph Ackermann, London|Auguste Charles Pugin|John Hill

Date

March 1, 1808

Medium

Hand-colored etching and aquatint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959