Ospedale degli Innocenti
Item
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Title
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Ospedale degli Innocenti
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Creator/author/artist of the original item
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Filippo Brunelleschi
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Date
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1419 – about 1445
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Description
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The Ospedale degli Innocenti was the first architectural commission of Filippo Brunelleschi, who is considered to be one of the very earliest Renaissance architects. Brunelleschi was the official architect for the first eight years of the project (1419 to 1427), during the same period of time that he was working on the cupola of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (Vasari 141, 158). However, he was pretty much absent after 1423, when he was elected to the Signoria (Vasari 158), so the building was completed around 1445 by other architects, who made their own changes to Brunelleschi’s vision. This photo shows the section of the building that was entirely completed by Brunelleschi– the arcade, which has nine arches supported by Corinthian columns. This represented a shift away from more traditional medieval architecture, in terms of overall appearance, use of detail, and construction methods (Britannica).
This building also tells us something about the society it was constructed for, however. The Foundling Hospital’s purpose is clearly tied to humanistic ideals, as it is affiliated with a guild, rather than a religion, as might have been the case earlier in time, or in other regions in Europe. In addition, it also gives us a glimpse into what life could be for babies born out of wedlock. For the mothers of these children, the Ospedale might have offered a chance of redemption, a way to both have their baby and avoid the shame of being an unwed mother (Wiesner-Hanks 71). The building itself had a basin where babies could be anonymously placed, providing both those in charge of the hospital and the mothers deniability (Museums in Florence). We can also surmise that in a society where half of children died before the age of 10, and teaching children how to perform specific tasks began around the age of five, that the Ospedale probably performed a combination of what we would think of as childcare in the modern day and vocational training (Wiesner-Hanks 64). This last is made even more probable by the fact that the hospital was run by the Wool Guild, which means that it could easily have provided training in the various aspects of wool production and refining to the foundlings left there.
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Place
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Florence, Italy
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Source Citation
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Hyman, Isabelle. “Filippo Brunelleschi.” Encyclopædia Britannica, January 1, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Filippo-Brunelleschi.
“Ospedale Degli Innocenti.” Museums in Florence. Accessed January 12, 2024. http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/ospedale_degli_innocenti.html.
Vasari, Giorgio. “Brunelleschi.” Essay. In The Lives of the Artists, translated by George Anthony Bull, 133–73. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971.
Wiesner-Hanks, Merry. Early Modern Europe, 1450-1789. 3rd ed. of Cambridge History of Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
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Rights / License
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CC BY-SA 4.0
