They had remained almost unseen for 300 years, but now two of William Hogarth’s masterpiece murals are available to the public for the first time.
The North Wing at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, which contains The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan – two large-scale murals by the British painter – has opened after a £9.5m restoration project.
The satirist depicted the two biblical stories, which feature 2.1-metre (7ft) high figures, in the hospital in the 1730s.
Will Palin, the chief executive of the Barts Heritage charity, said he hoped the restored area of the hospital grounds become a must-see for fine art fans.
He said: “They’ve never been publicly accessible, you could [see them] on special tours and you could get little glimpses but the doors have never been thrown open to the public like we’ve done … we want to create a new visitor attraction in the city.”
The artist was born in 1697 in Bartholomew Close, near the oldest hospital in Britain, which has provided free healthcare for nearly 900 years.
A historic image of nurses viewing the paintings. The two murals are outliers in Hogarth’s back catalogue. Photograph: Barts Health NHS Trust
Hogarth was furious when he discovered that the Italian painter Jacopo Amigoni was to be given the commission to paint the staircase.
Hogarth stepped in to offer his services free of charge, even though he had never painted on such a scale. “Amigoni was a safe pair of hands. He was a Venetian painter, but Hogarth, he was born literally a stone’s throw from the hospital. He knew the hospital well and almost felt an ownership of this project,” said Palin.
“Hogarth also felt that English painters need to be supported and this very important commission should go to a native painter. He offered his services for free and I think it was probably the free bit which appealed to the government most.”
The North Wing was built in 1732 to help run the hospital and raise money for it, but fell into decline as the hospital prioritised clinical areas. It has a Great Hall and staircase decorated by Hogarth.
The two murals are outliers in Hogarth’s back catalogue. He never painted on such a huge scale again, and the works were meant to be inspirational to visitors who might then donate to the hospital.
Hogarth’s painting includes sympathetic portraits of people afflicted with disease and injury: The Pool of Bethesda depicts a man who has been unable to walk for years being healed by Jesus.
Planning, fundraising and execution of the restoration took five years. It was supported by a core grant of £5.3m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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Planning, fundraising and execution of the restoration took five years. Photograph: Matthew Andrews
A team of craftspeople were brought in to work on the murals, including painting conservators, gilders, ironwork specialists, and roofers with experience of working in historic buildings. Specialist cleaning and conservation were required to remedy structural issues caused by the wooden “stretcher” framework behind the canvases.
The stair hall also underwent extensive restoration work, including repairing and strengthening the timber staircase and conserving an 18th-century chandelier.
An ornate banquet room, a baroque gatehouse, a statue of King Henry VIII and Portland stonework have also been conserved.
The intricate gilded ceiling of the Great Hall, designed by the master plasterer Jean Baptiste St Michell, his only work in England, was also restored.
The Great Hall will become a cultural venue, with a programme of events throughout the year, while the Hogarth works will be available to view twice a week.
