{
    "system": "GoGuides Verified Text",
    "api_version": "verified-text-v1",
    "status": "ok",
    "response_type": "verified_text_record",
    "source_key": "britannica_1911",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
    "license_code": "public_domain",
    "attribution": null,
    "license_url": null,
    "chunk_id": "1911:della robbia:09ca4322c491",
    "title": "DELLA ROBBIA",
    "section": null,
    "hash_alg": "sha256",
    "hash_sha256": "d4b1c9128927cbec5e95c362e71c5fa784d3d70fb96480af733621bbec25d52d",
    "normalizer": {
        "name": "ggnorm",
        "version": "1.0"
    },
    "verified_text": "della robbia, the name of a family of great distinction in the annals of florentine art. its members are enumerated in chronological order below.[1] i. luca della robbia (1399 or 1400[2]-1482) was the son of a florentine named simone di marco della robbia. according to vasari, whose account of luca's early life is little to be trusted, he was apprenticed to the silversmith leonardo di ser giovanni, who from 1355 to 1371 was working on the grand silver altar frontal for the cathedral at pistoia (q.v.); this, however, appears doubtful from the great age which it would give to leonardo, and it is more probable that luca was the pupil of ghiberti. during the early part of his life luca executed many important and exceedingly beautiful pieces of sculpture in marble and bronze. in technical skill he was quite the equal of ghiberti, and, while possessing all donatello's vigour, dramatic power and originality, he very frequently excelled him in grace of attitude and soft beauty of expression. no sculptured work of the great 15th century ever surpassed the singing gallery which luca made for the cathedral at 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 choir. this splendid work is now to be found in the museo del duomo. the general effect of the whole can also be seen at the victoria and albert museum, where a complete cast is fixed to the wall. the same museum possesses a study in _gesso duro_ for one of the panels, which appears to be the original sketch by luca's own hand. in may 1437 luca received a commission from the signoria of florence to execute five reliefs for the north side of the campanile, to complete the series begun by giotto and andrea pisano. these panels are so much in the earlier style of giotto that we must conclude that he had left drawings from which luca worked. they have representative figures chosen to typify grammar, logic, philosophy, music, and science,--the last represented by euclid and 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 peter's deliverance from prison and his crucifixion--are now in the bargello. it is probable that these altars were never finished. a tabernacle for the host, made by luca in 1442, is now at peretola, near florence, in the church of s. maria. a document in the archives of s. maria nuova at florence shows that he received for this 700 florins 1 lira 16 soldi (about l1400 of modern money). in 1437 donatello received a commission to cast a bronze door for one of the sacristies of the cathedral; but, as he delayed to execute this order, the work was handed over to luca on the 28th of 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.[4] the door is divided into ten square panels, with small heads in the style of ghiberti projecting from the framing. the two top subjects are the madonna and 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 drapery in broad simple folds is worthy of a greek sculptor of the best period of hellenic art. these exquisite reliefs are perfect models of plastic art, and are quite free from the over-elaboration and too pictorial style of ghiberti. fig. 1 shows one of the panels. [illustration: fig. 1.--bronze relief of one of the latin doctors, from the sacristy door in the cathedral of florence, by luca.] the most important existing work in marble by luca (executed in 1454-1456) is the tomb of benozzo federighi, bishop of fiesole, originally placed in the church of s. pancrazio at florence, but removed to s. francesco di paola on the bellosguardo road outside the 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 sarcophagus sculptured with graceful reliefs of angels holding a wreath which contains the inscription. above are three-quarter length figures of christ between st john and the virgin, of conventional type. the whole is surrounded by a rectangular frame formed of painted tiles of exquisite beauty, but out of keeping with the memorial. on each tile is painted, with enamel pigments, a bunch of flowers and fruit in brilliant realistic 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 separate pieces, fitted together like a kind of mosaic, probably because the pigment of the ground required a different degree of heat in firing from that needed for the enamel painting of the centre. the few other works of this class which exist do not approach the beauty of this early essay in tile painting, on which luca evidently put forth his utmost skill and patience. in the latter part of his life luca was mainly occupied with the production of terra-cotta reliefs covered with enamel, a process which he improved upon, but did not invent, as vasari asserts. the _rationale_ of this process was to cover the clay relief with an enamel formed of the ordinary ingredients of glass (_marzacotto_), made white and opaque by oxide of tin. (see ceramics: _italian majolica_.) though luca was not the inventor of the process, yet he extended its application to fine sculptured work in terra-cotta, so that it is not unnaturally known now as della robbia ware; it must, however, be remembered that by far the majority of these reliefs which in 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 brunelleschi's pazzi chapel in s. croce. these fine reliefs are coloured with various metallic oxides in different shades of blue, green, purple, yellow and 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 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 size, and also because its date is known. this is an enormous medallion containing the arms of rene of anjou and other heraldic devices; it is surrounded by a splendidly modelled wreath of fruit and flowers, especially apples, lemons, oranges and fir cones, all of which are brilliantly coloured. this medallion was set up on the facade of the pazzi palace to commemorate rene's visit to florence in 1442. other reliefs by luca, also in glazed terra-cotta, are those of the 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.[5] a very fine work by luca, executed between 1449 and 1452, is the tympanum relief of the madonna and four monastic saints over the door of s. domenico at urbino.[6] luca also made the four coloured medallions of the virtues set in the vault over the tomb of the young cardinal-prince of portugal in a side chapel of s. miniato in florence (see rossellino). by luca also are various polychromatic medallions outside or san michele.[7] one of his chief decorative works which no longer exists was a small library or study for piero de' medici, wholly lined with enamelled plaques and reliefs.[8] 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 idea that they formed part of the decoration of this room, but their real origin is doubtful. in 1471 luca was elected president of the florentine gild of sculptors, but he refused this great 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 20th of february 1482, leaving his property to his nephews andrea and simone.[9] his chief pupil was his nephew andrea, and agostino di duccio, who executed many pieces of sculpture at rimini, and the graceful but mannered marble reliefs of angels on the facade of s. bernardino at perugia, may have been one of his assistants.[10] vasari calls this agostino luca's 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 scale than his uncle had ever done; he also extended 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 lower standard of merit. only one work in marble by andrea is known, namely, an altar in s. maria delle grazie near arezzo, mentioned by vasari (ed. milanesi, ii. p. 179), and still well preserved. [illustration: fig. 2.--enamelled clay relief of virgin and child, by andrea.] one variety of method was introduced by andrea in his enamelled work; sometimes he omitted the enamel on the 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 noble tympanum relief of the meeting of st domenic and st francis in the loggia of the florentine hospital of s. paolo,--a design suggested by a fresco of fra angelico's in the cloister of st 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 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 main relief is left white. fig. 2 shows a 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 anno 1451 all anno 1495\"[11]; the first of these dates is the year when the hospital was rebuilt owing to a papal brief sent to the archbishop of florence. arezzo possesses a number of fine enamelled works by andrea and his sons--a retable in the cathedral with 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 grado is a very noble retable with angels holding a crown over a standing figure of the madonna; a number of small figures of worshippers take refuge in the folds of the virgin's mantle, a favourite 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 annunciation, the crucifixion, and the madonna giving her girdle to st 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 archive-room door in the florentine opera del duomo; for this he was paid twenty gold florins (see cavallucci, _s. maria del fiore_). in the same year he modelled the fine tympanum relief over a door of prato cathedral, with a half-length figure of the madonna between st stephen and st 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 volterra, which is attributed to andrea. other 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 viterbo, now preserved in the palazzo communale there, and a medallion of the virgin in glory, surrounded by angels, made in 1505 for pistoia cathedral.[12] the latest work attributed to andrea, though apparently only a workshop production of 1515, is a relief representing the adoration of the magi, made for a little church, st maria, in pian di mugnone, near florence.[13] portions of this work are still in the church, but some fragments of it are at oxford.",
    "source_url": "https://archive.org/details/EB1911WMF",
    "observed_at": "2026-02-08 18:43:04",
    "integrity": {
        "hash_check": "match",
        "hash_scope": "full_normalized_text",
        "computed_sha256": "d4b1c9128927cbec5e95c362e71c5fa784d3d70fb96480af733621bbec25d52d"
    },
    "machine_use": {
        "read": true,
        "cite": true,
        "decision": "verified_public_domain_text"
    },
    "goguides_data_license": "https://www.goguides.com/data-license",
    "goguides_data_license_version": "2.0",
    "documentation": {
        "white_paper_url": "https://www.goguides.com/white-paper.php",
        "pdf_url": "https://www.goguides.com/whitepapers/goguides-ai-source-clearance-white-paper.pdf"
    }
}