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The Spedale degli Innocenti in Florence



Florence - Piazza SS.Annunziata
The Gallery is arranged in one of the most famous and important architectural complexes of the early Florentine 15th century, that was commissioned and financed by the Wool Guild and built by Filippo Brunelleschi. The "Hospital" was originally meant to raise abandoned children and teach them some useful trade to enable them to make their way in life. The refectory, cloisters, dormitories, infirmary, nurses` rooms and porticoes were purposely balanced by Brunelleschi to create a harmonious and rational hospital architecture. Later, they were enlarged and decorated with frescoes, thus documenting the on-going activities of the institution and the favours of the reigning dynasty of the Medici.

The Gallery has been arranged in the loggia above the cloister and in the former dayroom of the children above the main portico. It consists of fine works that represent only a small section of the rich collections put together over the centuries by the Hospital through gifts, bequests, loans or works commissioned by the institution itself. Although the most important works of the collection (Della Robbia, Beato Angelico, Vasari, Giambologna), were dispersed in the 19th century, the collection still preserves outstanding panel paintings, detached frescoes, furniture pieces, decorations and a series of precious illuminated manuscripts dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, which are considered some of the finest preserved in Florence. The best paintings include The Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) made for the Hospital church. Among splendid and rich colours, the painting portrays some historical personalities (merchants of the Guild of Silk and their servants) connected with the life of the Hospital, worshipping the Child.

In addition to some line "gold ground" paintings, the Gallery also exhibits a Madonna witb Child attributed to the young Botticelli (1445-1510), still under the influence of his master Filippo Lippi; one of the most attractive glazed terracottas by Luca della Robbia; an altar piece by Piero di Cosimo (1461/62-1521) also made for the Hospital`s church and a typical Madonna degli Innocenti of the school of Granacci (1469-1545), where the Madonna is seen protecting the children in front of the Hospital`s portico. ... from "Museums and Galeries of Florence and Surroundings" (Apt Firenze)

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