Artwork of the Month: Hyde Park Hospital by S. Salter
02 July 2025
This month, the artwork was chosen by pupils of the St George’s Hospital School. The classroom is run by Wandsworth Hospital & Home Tuition School, an organisation which brings education to life for the children on the wards and on home tuition.
The theme for Artwork of the Month for June is the heritage of St George’s Hospital, to celebrate the launch of our new exhibition ‘Our Hospital: Exploring the Heritage of St George’s Hospital’. The exhibition features artworks from the St George’s Art and Heritage Collection, and items generously reproduced from the City St George’s Archives and Special Collection. It is part of the 'Our Hospital: conserving, curating and responding to St George’s Art and Heritage Collection' project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Our Art Collection Officer, Rachel, visited the Hospital School and led a session with the pupils on the heritage of the hospital. She shared the history of the hospital with them and they discussed three artworks from St George’s Art and Heritage Collection which are featured in the exhibition.
The pupils chose this artwork as Artwork of the Month as they liked the light and friendly atmosphere of the painting. They said that the people in the painting made it feel more lively.
About the artwork:
This artwork depicts St George’s Hospital at Hyde Park Corner in 1870. The Hospital had been established over a hundred years earlier in the former house of the Viscount Lanesborough. While the hospital had been expanded since 1733, the decision was made to entirely rebuild it in the mid-1800s. It was rebuilt in a neoclassical style, inspired by the architecture of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. The new hospital was designed by William Wilkins, also known for designing the National Gallery and the University College London campus at Gower Street.
St George’s Hospital remained at Hyde Park Corner until the 1980s, when the hospital was relocated to its current site in Tooting. The building was converted into the Lanesborough Hotel and the façade of the building looks much the same as it did in 1870, though the horses and carriages have been replaced by cars and buses! In the background of this painting, on the right, we can see the gates of Hyde Park Corner, which can still be seen today.
This artwork can be found in the ‘Our Hospital: Exploring the Heritage of St George’s Hospital’ exhibition, located on the ground floor of Lanesborough Wing at St George’s Hospital, Tooting.
The 'Our Hospital: conserving, curating and responding to St George’s Art and Heritage Collection’ is a three-year project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. The project is focusing on conserving, cataloguing, reinterpreting and digitising St George’s Hospital’s unique Art and Heritage Collection so it can be enjoyed by many more people.
Arts St George’s (part of St George’s Hospital Charity) is the arts programme for St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. To find out more, follow us on socials @artsstgeorges, or follow Arts St George's - St George's Hospital Charity
City St George’s Archives and Special Collections preserves records, rare books, artefacts and artworks relating to City St George’s, University of London. The history of St George’s medical school is closely linked with the hospital, and students have benefited from the close relationship since 1733. The Archive is open to all by appointment. For more information please contact: archives@sgul.ac.uk.
