Frederick Cayley Robinson: Acts of Mercy
‘Acts of Mercy’ is the collective title of four large oil paintings on canvas painted by the British artist Frederick Cayley Robinson (1862 - 1927) between 1915 and 1920 for the Middlesex Hospital. They had been commissioned for the hospital in 1912 by the Australian-born mining tycoon Sir Edmund David (1861 – 1939), a Governor and benefactor of the Hospital.
The set forms one of the most ambitious schemes to decorate a hospital with paintings about its mission since the frescoes painted by Domenico di Bartolo for the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena in 1440-44.
The Middlesex Hospital paintings form two pairs, a pair of interior scenes traditionally called ‘Orphans’ and a pair of exterior scenes called ‘The Doctor.’ In each pair, contemporary and realistic elements are fused with timeless and symbolic features in a dreamlike ensemble.
In the Middlesex Hospital, the four paintings were placed in the niches in the entrance hall. The pair of ‘Orphans’ were shown in series (alongside one another), while the pair of ‘The Doctor’ was shown in counterview (facing one another). In the waiting area, they became very familiar to generations of patients, visitors, students and staff. One consultant wrote: “My life was made happier by the presence of these paintings,” while another called them “a daily pleasure and inspiration.”
“Their hushed atmosphere, tense geometry and subdued colour scheme respond to the grim anxieties of the Home Front, as well as to their original classical setting. The figures wait – for the doctor, for food, for peace. A columnar tree cuts across ashlar. Greys tending to lilac, mauve and olive green set off the plain white bowls of the orphans and the clean bandages of the wounded. The glowing oil lamp in the foreground and the sash window illuminated in the sober terrace beyond are at once marvellous and mundane.”
- Nicholas Penny, London Review of Books, 17 April 2003
The Middlesex Hospital paintings were acquired by the Wellcome Library in 2009.
About UCLH Arts & Heritage
UCLH Arts & Heritage is the hospital arts and heritage project that serves UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and its surrounding community and is funded entirely by charitable donations and fundraising. UCLH Arts & Heritage is committed to providing a welcoming, uplifting environment for all patients, visitors and staff through the use of a varied and stimulating arts and heritage programme. Its work aims to improve the patient experience, boost staff morale, increase engagement with the arts and celebrate the Trust’s unique heritage and community.
Since 2005, UCLH has worked to improve patient and staff outcomes through the Arts. It does this in a number of ways, including a changing exhibition and music programme, creative workshops on wards, artist residencies, commissioning site-specific artwork, and a staff culture club. UCLH arts and heritage receives its funding from UCLH Charity and the Friends of UCLH.
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