The Grim Resonance of "The Innocents of Florence"

"The Florentine entrepreneur Francesco Datini was the son of a barkeep. Orphaned around age thirteen, by the Black Death, he made his first fortune as an arms dealer in Avignon, during the Hundred Years' War, then compounded his wealth by manufacturing wool and dyes, trading in spices and gold, and dabbling in usury. By midlife, he had controlling interests in seven trading companies across multiple European cities, plus two factories and a bank."

"Datini's bride, Margherita, proved to be infertile; with no one to inherit his business empire, and increasingly concerned about the fate of his immortal soul, Datini left much of his estate to causes benefitting the poor. The most famous exhibit of his largesse is Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti, or the Hospital of the Innocents, in Florence, which began operations in 1445; it was one of the first orphanages to be established in Europe."

Francesco Datini was orphaned around thirteen by the Black Death and rose from a barkeep's son to a wealthy Florentine merchant. He built fortunes as an arms dealer and through wool, dyes, spice and gold trades, owning factories, trading companies and a bank. In 1376 he married Margherita, who proved infertile, and later bequeathed much of his estate to causes benefitting the poor. Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti opened in 1445 as one of Europe's first orphanages, funded by his largesse. Datini fathered children with teenage servants, including an enslaved woman named Lucia; one infant died in 1387 and another, Ginevra, was removed from her mother, briefly placed in a foundling hospital and sent to a rural wet nurse to conceal her existence.

Read at The New Yorker