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DELLA ROBBIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 969 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DELLA ROBBIA , the name of a See also:

family of See also:great distinction in the See also:annals of Florentine See also:art. Its members are enumerated in See also:chronological See also:order be'.ow.' I. LUCA DELLA RoB131A (1399 Or 14002-1482) was the son of a Florentine named See also:Simone di Marco della Robbia. According to See also:Vasari, whose See also:account of Luca's See also:early See also:life is little to be trusted, he was apprenticed to the silversmith Leonardo di See also:Ser Giovanni, who from 1355 to 1371 was working on the See also:grand See also:silver See also:altar frontal for the See also:cathedral at See also:Pistoia (q.v.); this, however, appears doubtful from the great See also:age which it would give to Leonardo, and it is more probable that Luca was the See also:pupil of See also:Ghiberti. During the early See also:part of his life Luca executed many important and exceedingly beautiful pieces of See also:sculpture in See also:marble and See also:bronze. In technical skill he was quite the equal of Ghiberti, and, while possessing all See also:Donatello's vigour, dramatic See also:power and originality, he very frequently excelled him in See also:grace of attitude and soft beauty of expression. No sculptured See also:work of the great 15th See also:century ever surpassed the singing See also:gallery which Luca made for the cathedral at See also:Florence between 1431 and 1440, with its ten magnificent panels of singing angels and dancing boys, far exceeding in beauty those which Donatello in 1433 sculptured for the opposite gallery in the same See also:choir. This splendid work is now to be found in the Museo del Duomo. The See also:general effect of the whole can also be seen at the See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum, where a See also:complete See also:cast is fixed to the See also:wall. The same museum possesses a study in See also:gesso duro for one of the panels, which appears to be the See also:original See also:sketch by Luca's own See also:hand. In May 1437 Luca received a See also:commission from the signoria of Florence to execute five reliefs for the See also:north See also:side of the campanile, to complete the See also:series begun by See also:Giotto and See also:Andrea See also:Pisano. These panels are so much in the earlier See also:style of Giotto that we must conclude that he had See also:left drawings from which Luca worked.

They have representative figures chosen to typify See also:

grammar, See also:logic, See also:philosophy, See also:music, and See also:science,—the last represented by See also:Euclid and See also:Ptolemy .3 In 1438 Luca in association with Donatello received an order for two marble altars for chapels in the cathedral. The reliefs from one of them—St See also:Peter's Deliverance from See also:Prison and his Crucifixion—are now in the Bargello. It is probable that these altars were never finished. A See also:tabernacle for the See also:host, made by Luca in 1442, is now at Peretola, near Florence, in the See also:church of S. Maria. A document in the archives of S. Maria Nuova at Florence shows that he received for this 700 florins , See also:lira 16 soldi (about £1400 of See also:modern See also:money). In 1437 Donatello received a commission to cast a bronze See also:door for one of the sacristies of the cathedral; but, as he delayed to execute this I. Genealogical See also:tree of Della Robbia sculptors: Simone di Marco. Marco. Luca Andrea. (1400–1482).

. (1435–1525). See also:

Girolamo Luca See also:Paolo Giovanni Marco (1488–1566), (1475–1550?), (1470— ?), (1469–1529?), (1468— ?), worked mostly worked in Dominican worked Dominican in See also:France. Florence See also:monk. mainly in monk. and See also:Rome. Florence. 2 Not 1388, as Vasari says. See a document printed by Gaye, Carteggio inedito, i. pp. 182-186. Vasari is not quite right in his account of these reliefs: he speaks of Euclid and Ptolemy as being in different panels. order, the work was handed over to Luca on the 28th of See also:February 1446, with Michelozzo and Maso di Bartolomeo as his assistants. Part of this wonderful door was cast in 1448, and the last two panels were finished by Luca in 1467, with bronze which was supplied to him by Verrocchio.l The door is divided into ten square panels, with small heads in the style of Ghiberti projecting from the framing. The two See also:top subjects are the Madonna and See also:Child and the Baptist, next come the four Evangelists, and below are the four Latin Doctors, each subject with attendant angels.

The whole is modelled with perfect grace and dignified simplicity; the heads throughout are full of life, and the treatment of the See also:

sacristy door in the cathedral of Florence, by Luca. drapery in broad See also:simple folds is worthy of a See also:Greek sculptor of the best See also:period of Hellenic art. These exquisite reliefs are perfect See also:models of plastic art, and are quite See also:free from the over-elaboration and too pictorial style of Ghiberti. Fig., shows one of the panels. The most important existing work in marble by Luca (executed in 1454–1456) is the See also:tomb of Benozzo Federighi, See also:bishop of See also:Fiesole, originally placed in the church of S. Pancrazio at Florence, but removed to S. See also:Francesco di Paola on the Bellosguardo road outside the See also:city in 1783. In 1898 it was again removed to the church of SS. Trinita in Florence. A very beautiful effigy of the bishop in a restful pose lies on a See also:sarcophagus sculptured with graceful reliefs of angels holding a See also:wreath which contains the inscription. Above are three-See also:quarter length figures of See also:Christ between St See also:John and the Virgin, of conventional type. The whole is surrounded by a rectangular See also:frame formed of painted tiles of exquisite beauty, but out of keeping with the memorial.

On each See also:

tile is painted, with See also:enamel See also:pigments, a bunch of See also:flowers and See also:fruit in brilliant realistic See also:colours, the loveliness of which is very hard to describe. Though the bunch of flowers on each is painted on one slab, the ground of each tile is formed of See also:separate pieces, fitted together like a See also:kind of See also:mosaic, probably because the pigment of the ground required a different degree of See also:heat in firing from that needed for the enamel See also:painting of the centre. The few other See also:works of this class which exist do not approach the beauty of this early See also:essay in tile painting, on which Luca evidently put forth his utmost skill and See also:patience. In the latter part of his life Luca was mainly occupied with the See also:production of terra-See also:cotta reliefs covered with enamel, a See also:process which he improved upon, but did not invent, as Vasari asserts. The rationale of this process was to See also:cover the See also:clay See also:relief with an enamel formed of the See also:ordinary ingredients of See also:glass (marzacotto), made See also:white and opaque by See also:oxide of See also:tin. (See See also:CERAMICS: See also:Italian See also:Majolica.) Though Luca was not the inventor of the process, 1 See Cavallucci, S. Maria del Fiore, pt. ii. p. 137.967 yet he extended its application to See also:fine sculptured work in terra-cotta, so that it is not unnaturally known now as Della Robbia See also:ware; it must, however, be remembered that by far the See also:majority of these reliefs which in See also:Italy and elsewhere are ascribed to Luca are really the work of some of the younger members of the family or of the atelier which they founded. Comparatively few exist which can with certainty be ascribed to Luca himself. Among the earliest of these are medallions of the four Evangelists in the vault of See also:Brunelleschi's Pazzi See also:chapel in S. Croce. These fine reliefs are coloured with various metallic oxides in different shades of See also:blue, See also:green, See also:purple, yellow and See also:black.

It has often been asserted that the very polychromatic reliefs belong to Andrea or his sons, and that Luca's were all in pure White, or in white and blue; this, however, is not the See also:

case; colours were used as freely by Luca as by his successors. A relief in the Victoria and Albert Museum furnishes a striking example of this and is of especial value from its great See also:size, and also because its date is known. This is an enormous medallion containing the arms of Rene of See also:Anjou and other heraldic devices; it is surrounded by a splendidly modelled wreath of fruit and flowers, especially apples, lemons, oranges and See also:fir cones, all of which are brilliantly coloured. This medallion was set up on the See also:facade of the Pazzi See also:Palace to commemorate Relies visit to Florence in 1442. Other reliefs by Luca, also in glazed terra-cotta, are those of the See also:Ascension and Resurrection in the tympani of the doors of the sacristies in the cathedral, executed in 1443 and 1446. Other existing works of Luca in Florence are the tympanum reliefs of the Madonna between two Angels in the Via dell' Agnolo, a work of exquisite beauty, and another formerly over the door of S. Pierino del Mercato Vecchio, but now removed to the Bargello (No. 29). The only existing statues by Luca are two lovely enamelled figures of kneeling angels holding candlesticks, now in the canons' sacristy? A very fine work by Luca, executed between 1449 and 1452, is the tympanum relief of the Madonna and four Monastic See also:Saints over the door of S. Domenico at See also:Urbino .3 Luca also made the four coloured medallions of the Virtues set in the vault over the tomb of the See also:young See also:cardinal-See also:prince of See also:Portugal in a side chapel of S. Miniato in Florence (see See also:RossELLINO).

By Luca also are various polychromatic medallions outside Or See also:

San Michele.' One of his See also:chief decorative works which no longer exists was a small library or study for See also:Piero de' See also:Medici, wholly lined with enamelled plaques and reliefs.5 The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses twelve circular plaques of majolica ware painted in blue and white with the Occupations of the Months; these have been attributed to Luca, under the See also:idea that they formed part of the decoration of this See also:room, but their real origin is doubtful. In 1471 Luca was elected See also:president of the Florentine Gild of Sculptors, but he refused this great See also:honour on account of his age and infirmity. It shows, however, the very high estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries. He died on the loth of February 1482, leaving his See also:property to his nephews Andrea and Simone.6 His chief pupil was his See also:nephew Andrea, and See also:Agostino di Duccio, who executed many pieces of sculpture at See also:Rimini, and the graceful but mannered marble reliefs of angels on the facade of S. Bernardino at See also:Perugia, may have been one of his assistants.? Vasari calls this Agostino Luca's See also:brother, but he was not related to him at all. II. ANDREA DELLA ROBBIA (1435-1525), the nephew and pupil of Luca, carried on the production of the enamelled reliefs on a much larger See also:scale than his See also:uncle had ever done; he also extended 2 The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses what seem to be fine replicas of these statues. S The document in which the order for this and the See also:price paid for it are recorded is published by Yriarte, See also:Gas. d. See also:beaux arts, See also:xxiv. P. 143• ' One of these medallions, that of the Physicians, is now removed to the inside of the church. b It is fully described by Filarete in his Trattato dell' architectura, written in 1464, and therefore was finished before that date; see also Vasari, ed.

See also:

Milanesi (Florence, 1880), ii. p. 174. 8 His will, dated 19th February 1471, is published by Gaye, See also:Cart. fined. i. p. 185. 7 In the works of See also:Perkins and others on Italian sculpture these Perugian reliefs are wrongly stated to be of enamelled clay. 968 its application to various architectural uses, such as friezes and to the making of lavabos (lavatories), fountains and large retables. The result of this was that, though the finest reliefs from the workshop of Andrea were but little if at all inferior to those from the hand of Luca, yet some of them, turned out by pupils and assistants, reached only a See also:lower See also:standard of merit. Only one work in marble by Andrea is known, namely, an altar in S. Maria delle Grazie near See also:Arezzo, mentioned by Vasari (ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 179), and still well preserved. One variety of method was introduced by Andrea in his enamelled work; sometimes he omitted the enamel on the See also:face and hands (nude parts) of his figures, especially in those cases where he had treated the heads in a realistic manner; as, for example, in the See also:noble tympanum relief of the See also:meeting of St Domenic and St See also:Francis in the loggia of the Florentine See also:hospital of S.

Paolo,—a See also:

design suggested by a See also:fresco of Fra See also:Angelico's in the See also:cloister of St See also:Mark's. One of the most remarkable works by Andrea is the series of medallions with reliefs of Infants in white on a blue ground set on the front of the foundling hospital at Florence. These lovely child-figures are modelled with wonderful skill and variety, no two being alike. Andrea produced, for See also:gilds and private persons, a large number of reliefs of the Madonna and Child varied with much invention, and all of extreme beauty of pose and sweetness of expression. These are frequently framed with realistic yet decorative garlands of fruit and flowers painted with coloured enamels, while the See also:main relief is left white. Fig. 2 shows a See also:good example, of these smaller works. The hospital of S. Paolo, near S. Maria Novella, has also a number of fine medallions with reliefs of saints, two of Christ Healing the Sick, and two fine portraits, under which are white plaques inscribed—" DALL See also:ANNO 1451 ALL ANNO 1495 "1; the first of these See also:dates is the See also:year when the hospital was rebuilt owing to a papal brief sent to the See also:archbishop of Florence. Arezzo possesses a number of fine enamelled works by Andrea and his 1 See also:Professor See also:Marquand has discovered, beneath 1451, the inscription Prete Benino, and, under 1495, De Benini; probably the names of the See also:governors of the hospital at these dates.sons—a See also:retable in the cathedral with See also:God holding the Crucified Christ, surrounded by angels, and below, kneeling figures of S. Donato and S.

Bernardino; also in the chapel of the Campo Santo is a fine relief of the Madonna and Child with four saints at the sides. In S. Maria in See also:

Grado is a very noble retable with angels holding a See also:crown over a See also:standing figure of the Madonna; a number of small figures of worshippers take See also:refuge in the folds of the Virgin's See also:mantle, a favourite See also:motive for sculpture dedicated by gilds or other corporate bodies. Perhaps the finest collection of works of this class is at La Verna, not far from Arezzo (see Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 179). The best of these, three large retables with representations of the See also:Annunciation, the Crucifixion, and the Madonna giving her See also:Girdle to St See also:Thomas, are probably the work of Andrea himself, the others being by his sons. In 1489 Andrea made a beautiful relief of the Virgin and two Angels, now over the See also:archive-room door in the Florentine See also:Opera del Duomo; for this he was paid twenty See also:gold florins (see Cavallucci, S. Maria del Fiore). In the same year he modelled the fine tympanum relief over a door of See also:Prato cathedral, with a See also:half-length figure of the Madonna between St See also:Stephen and St See also:Lawrence, surrounded by a frame of angels' heads. In 1491 he was still working at' Prato, where many of his best reliefs still exist. A fine bust of S.

Lino exists over the side door of the cathedral at See also:

Volterra, which is attributed to Andrea. Other See also:late works of known date are a magnificent bust of the Protonotary Almadiano, made in 1510 for the church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini at See also:Viterbo, now preserved in the Palazzo Communale there, and a medallion of the Virgin in See also:Glory, surrounded by angels, made in 1505 for Pistoia cathedral.' The latest work attributed to Andrea, though apparently only a workshop production of 1515, is a relief representing the See also:Adoration of the Magi, made for a little church, St Maria, in Pian di Mugnone, near Florence .3 Portions of this work are still in the church, but some fragments of it are at See also:Oxford. V. The chief existing work known to be by the second Luca' is the very See also:rich and beautiful tile See also:pavement in the uppermost See also:story of See also:Raphael's loggie at the Vatican, finely designed and painted in harmonious majolica colours. This was made by Luca at Raphael's See also:request and under his supervision in 1518.6 It is still in very fine preservation. VI. GIOVANNI DELLA ROBBIA (1469–1529?) during a great part of his life worked as assistant to his See also:father, Andrea, and in many cases the enamelled sculpture of the two cannot be distinguished. Some of Giovanni's See also:independent works are of great merit, especially the earlier ones; during the latter part of his life his reliefs deteriorated in style, owing mainly to the universal decadence of the See also:time. A very large number of pieces of Robbia ware which are attributed to Andrea, and even to the See also:elder Luca, were really by the hand of Giovanni. One of his finest works is a large retable at Volterra in the church of S. Girolamo, dated 1501; it represents the Last See also:Judgment, and is remarkable for the fine modelling of the figures, especially that of the See also:archangel See also:Michael, and a nude kneeling figure of a youth who has just risen from his tomb.

Quite equal in beauty to anything of his father's, from 2 See Gualandi, Memorie risguardanti le belle arti (See also:

Bologna, 1845), vi. pp. 33-35, where original documents are printed recording the dates and prices paid for these and other works of Andrea. ' See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. p. 180. ' It appears certain that this Luca was a layman and not the Fra Luca referred to above. 6 It is illustrated by See also:Gruner, Fresco Decorations of Italy (See also:London, 1854), pl. iv.; see also Miintz, Raphael, sa See also:vie, &c. (See also:Paris, 1881), p. 452, See also:note i., and Vasari, ed. Milanesi, ii. p. 182. whom the design of the figures was probably taken, is the-washingfountain in the sacristy of S. Maria Novella at Florence, made in 1497.1 It is a large arched See also:recess with a view of the seashore, not very decorative in style, painted on majolica tiles at the back.

There are also two very beautiful painted majolica panels of fruit-trees let into the lower part. In the tympanum of the See also:

arch is a very lovely white relief of the Madonna between two Adoring Angels (see fig. 3). See also:Long coloured garlands of fruit and flowers are held by nude boys reclining on the top of the arch and others I^ r ,nasar 'In are' renr- r See also:awe e.e See also:ea, W W. W W W Y i - Y i_ Y i~ ti i G L i 7 G N i W Y . Y if i W Y Y Y Y i I. W • 1 W . W Y w W.II W i ^ Y .Y • W Y Y See also:lavabo (S. Maria Novella, Florence), by Giovanni. standing on the See also:cornice. All this part is of enamelled clay, but the See also:basin of the See also:fountain is of white marble. Neither Luca nor Andrea was in the See also:habit of See also:signing his work, but Giovanni often did so, usually adding the date, probably because other potters had begun to imitate the Robbia ware.' Giovanni lacked the original See also:talent of Luca and Andrea, and so he not only copied their work but even reproduced in clay the marble sculpture of See also:Pollaiuolo, Da Settignano, Verrocchio and others.

A relief by him, evidently taken from Mino da Fiesole, exists in the Palazzo Castracane Staccoli. Among the very numerous other works of Giovanni are a relief in the wall of a suppressed See also:

convent in the Via Nazionale at Florence, and two reliefs in the Bargello dated 1521 and 1522. That dated 1521 is a many-coloured relief of the Nativity, and was taken from the church of S. Girolamo in Florence; it is a too pictorial work, marred by the use of many different planes. Its See also:predella has a small relief of the Adoration of the Magi, and is inscribed " Hoc See also:opus fecit Ioaes Andee de Robia, ac a posuit hoc in tempore See also:die ultima lulli ANO. DNI. M.D. XXI." At See also:Pisa in the Campo Santo is a relief in Giovanni's later and poorer manner dated 1520; it is a Madonna surrounded by angels, with saints below—the whole overcrowded with figures and ornaments. Giovanni's largest and perhaps finest work is the polychromatic See also:frieze on the outside of the Del Ceppo hospital at Pistoia, for which he received various sums of money between 1525 and 1529, as is recorded in documents which still exist among the archives of the hospital.' The subjects of this frieze are the Seven Works of See also:Mercy, forming a continuous See also:band of sculpture in high relief, well modelled and designed in a very broad sculpturesque way, but disfigured by the crudeness of some of its colouring. Six of these reliefs are by Giovanni, namely, Clothing the Naked, Washing the Feet of Pilgrims, 1 See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. 193• 2 Examples of these imitations are a retable in S. Lucchese near Poggibonsi dated 1514, another of the Madonna and Saints at See also:Monte San Savino of 1525, and a third in the Capuchin church of Arceria near Sinigaglia; they are all inferior to the best works of the Robbia family, though some of them may have been made by assistants trained in the Robbia workshops.

The hospital itself was begun in 1514.Visiting the Sick, Visiting Prisoners, Burying the Dead, and Feeding the Hungry. The seventh, Giving drink to the Thirsty, was made by Filippo Paladini of Pistoia in 1585; this last is simply made of painted See also:

stucco. The large figures of the virtues placed between the scenes, and the medallions between the pillars, are the work of assistants or imitators. A large octagonal See also:font of enamelled clay, with pilasters at the angles and panels between them with scenes from the life of the Baptist, in the church of S. Leonardo at Cerreto See also:Guidi, is a work of the school of Giovanni; the reliefs are pictorial in style and coarse in See also:execution. Giovanni's chief pupil was a See also:man named Benedetto Buglioni (1461-1521), and a ,pupil of his, one Santi Buglioni (b. 1494), entered the Robbia workshops in 1521, and assisted in the later works of Giovanni. exist.' The best .collections of Robbia ware are in the Florentine Bargello, Accademia and Museo del Duomo; the Victoria and Albert Museum (the finest out of Italy) ; the Louvre, the See also:Cluny and the See also:Berlin Museums; while fine examples are to be found in New See also:York, See also:Boston, St See also:Petersburg and See also:Vienna. Many fine specimens exist in private collections in See also:England, France, See also:Germany and the See also:United States. The greater part of the Robbia work still remains in the churches and other buildings of Italy, especially in Florence, Fiesole, Arezzo, La Verna, Volterra, Barga, See also:Montepulciano, See also:Lucca, Pistoia, Prato and See also:Siena.

End of Article: DELLA ROBBIA

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