Roundel with Foundling Infant

The foundling hospital (Ospedale degli Innocenti) in Florence, built after 1419 according to a design by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377—1446), had arcades on the façade that were decorated with coloured glazed terracotta tondi. In 1487, ten reliefs by Andrea della Robbia were placed between the crescent arches on the façade. The tondi, constructed according to the same compositional scheme but with different details, depict foundling infants, in a reference to the function of the building. The glazed terracotta technique had been elaborated by Andrea’s uncle, Luca, in the early 1440s. The coloured and shiny terracotta sculptures soon became extremely popular in Florence. In 1907 the Museum of Fine Arts ordered plaster casts of four of the Ospedale degli Innocenti’s ten tondi depicting foundling infants.