The SS.

Annunziata and the Spedale degli Innocenti Andrea del Sarto again--Franciabigio outraged--Alessio Baldovinetti--Piero de' Medici's church--An Easter Sunday congregation--Andrea's "Madonna del Sacco"-- "The Statue and the Bust"-- Henri IV--The Spedale degli Innocenti--Andrea della Robbia--Domenico Ghirlandaio--Cosimo I and the Etruscans--Bronzes and tapestries--Perugino's triptych--S.

Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi--"Very sacred human dust".
From S.Marco it is an easy step, along the Via Sapienza, to the Piazza dell' Annunziata, where one finds the church of that name, the Palazzo Riccardi-Mannelli, and opposite it, gay with the famous della Robbia reliefs of swaddled children, the Spedale degli Innocenti.
First the church, which is notable for possessing in its courtyard Andrea del Sarto's finest frescoes.

This series, of which he was the chief painter, with his friend Franciabigio again as his principal ally, depict scenes in the life of the Virgin and S.Filippo.

The scene of the Birth of the Virgin has been called the triumph of fresco painting, and certainly it is very gay and life-like in that medium.