DELLA ROBBIA

Family name of three important Italian Renaissance sculptor-artists.

Luca, sculptor included by Alberti among the founders of the Italian Renaissance; b. Florence, 1399 or 1400;d. Florence, Feb. 22, 1482. He received important commissions for reliefs in marble and bronze, but is best known for his Madonnas, religious scenes, and coats-ofarms in glazed terra cotta, a technique that he invented. Nothing is known of his early work, but his later style suggests that Luca was probably trained by Nanni di Banco and perhaps took over the direction of the workshop when Nanni died in 1421. Luca's first dated work is the beautiful marble cantoria or music-loft (1431–38; Cathedral Museum, Florence). Its ten reliefs with putti singing and playing instruments illustrate Psalm 150. Not only the epigraphy and architectural framework but the style of the reliefs themselves bears remarkable resemblances to the antique. A change in style toward a deeper undercutting and more vigorous movement that occurred in those of the reliefs done after 1434–35 may be due to the influence of Donatello, who in 1433 began to contribute to the project. In contrast to Donatello's boisterous dancers who fill a frieze running behind projecting columns, Luca della Robbia's children are calmer, and the verticals and horizontals of the compositions are in perfect harmony with the frame that clearly separates the panels. The superb bronze door of Florence Cathedral (1464–69) is Luca's last surviving work in metal; each of the reliefs contains three figures in a quietly arranged composition. After 1440 Luca worked chiefly in the medium of enameled terra cotta. His first dated work, a marble tabernacle at Peretola (1441–43), contains only small sections done in terra cotta, which the artist used here for its coloristic effects. In his well-known Madonnas, Luca's invention was inexhaustible; the compositions never repeat themselves, though the palette is limited to white and blues. A greater range of color is found in his architectural decorations, e.g., the roundels with figures of Apostles in the Pazzi Chapel (c. 1440–50; S. Croce, Florence) and the lunettes of the "Resurrection and Ascension" (1442–51; Cathedral Museum, Florence).

Andrea, Luca's nephew, continued the workshop tradition; b. 1435; d. 1525. His ten medallions of children on the arcade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (1463–66) are remarkable works, though they show a trend toward sentimentality. Under Andrea the mass production of terra-cotta Madonnas for private devotional use resulted in a decorative art of lower quality.

Giovanni, the most important artist among Andrea's five sons; b. 1469; d. 1529. In his works, such as the "Temptation" (1515; Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore), a greater naturalism is combined with a wider range of color.

Bibliography: l. planiscig, Luca della Robbia (Florence 1948). g. brunetti, Encyclopedia of World Art (New York 1959) 4:295–302. j. pope-hennessey, Italian Renaissance Sculpture (New York 1958). c. seymour, "Young Luca della Robbia," Bulletin of the Dudley Peter Allen Memorial Art Museum of Oberlin College 20 (1963) 92–119. a. marquand, Andrea della Robbia and His Atelier, 2 v. (Princeton 1922); Giovanni della Robbia (Princeton 1920).

[m. m. schaefer]