The exhibition includes this famous image of Bedlam painted by William Hogarth in 1735 and copied many times.
This has sometimes been thought to be a faithful reflection of conditions inside Bethlem, however, Hogarth almost certainly exaggerated the scene to make a dramatic image. Click here for a more realistic illustration of the inside of the hospital 130 years later.
This is the last in a series of eight paintings illustrating 'A Rake's Progress', a morality tale of the 1730s.
In the first scene the rake (a weak-willed hedonist) comes into some money. He spends it all on drink, debauchery and dissolute pursuits. Finally his wretched life drives him mad and the moral of the tale is that he ends up as a lunatic.
