The Chapel of the Enfants-Trouvés in Paris: Religieuses et garçonnets regardant la crèche 1757

Etienne Fessard made this print of the Chapel of the Enfants-Trouvés in Paris. It shows nuns and foundling boys looking at a Nativity scene. This image reflects the religious charitable institutions of 18th-century France. The Enfants-Trouvés was a hospital for abandoned children, reflecting concerns about poverty, illegitimacy, and social order. The scene gives us a glimpse into the daily life of the orphanage, an institution that took responsibility for children without families. Through visual codes like the nuns' habits and the boys’ simple clothing, social roles and expectations are reinforced. The print provides a window onto the complex web of social structures, religious beliefs, and institutional practices that shaped Parisian life at the time. To fully understand this artwork, we can look at archival records of the Enfants-Trouvés, theological writings on charity, and social histories of 18th-century Paris.