John of Douay shall effect my plan,
Set me on horseback here aloft,
Alive, as the crafty sculptor can,

In the very square I have crossed so oft: 
That men may admire, when future suns
Shall touch the eyes to a purpose soft,

While the mouth and the brow stay brave in bronze—­
Admire and say, “when he was alive
How he would take his pleasure once!”

The other point of interest is that when Maria de’ Medici, Ferdinand’s niece, wished to erect a statue of Henri IV (her late husband) at the Pont Neuf in Paris she asked to borrow Gian Bologna.  But the sculptor was too old to go and therefore only a bronze cast of this same horse was offered.  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.  Andrea not only modelled the babies outside but the beautiful Annunciation (of which I give a reproduction in this volume) in the court:  one of his best works.  The photograph will show how full of pretty thoughts it is, but in colour it is more charming still and the green of the lily stalks is not the least delightful circumstance.  Not only among works of sculpture but among Annunciations this relief holds a very high place.  Few of the artists devised a scene in which the great news was brought more engagingly, in sweeter surroundings, or received more simply.

The door of the chapel close by leads to another work of art equally adapted to its situation—­Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Magi:  one of the perfect pictures for children.  We have seen Ghirlandaio’s Adoration of the Shepherds at the Accademia:  this is its own brother.  It has the sweetest, mildest little Mother, and in addition to the elderly Magi two tiny little saintlings adore too.  In the distance is an enchanted landscape about a fairy estuary.

This hospital is a very busy one, and the authorities are glad to show it to visitors who really take an interest in such work.  Rich Italians carry on a fine rivalry in generosity to such institutions.  Bologna, for instance, could probably give lessons in thoughtful charity to the whole world.