[A Wanderer in Florence by E. V. Lucas]@TWC D-Link book
A Wanderer in Florence

CHAPTER XIX
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In the end Tacca completed both statues, and Henri IV was set up in 1614 (after having fallen overboard on the voyage from Leghorn to Havre).

The present statue at the Pont Neuf is, however, a modern substitute.
The facade of the Spedale degli Innocenti, or children's hospital, when first seen by the visitor evokes perhaps the quickest and happiest cry of recognition in all Florence by reason of its row of della Robbia babies, each in its blue circle, reproductions of which have gone all over the world.

These are thought to be by Andrea, Luca's nephew, and were added long after the building was completed.

Luca probably helped him.

The hospital was begun by Brunelleschi at the cost of old Giovanni de' Medici, Cosimo's father, but the Guild of the Silk Weavers, for whom Luca made the exquisite coat of arms on Or San Michele, took it over and finished it.


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