Luca della Robbia
Luca della Robbia (* around 1400 in Florence, † 1481 ibid ) was an Italian sculptor of the Della Robbia family. He belonged to Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello among the founders of the early Renaissance in Florence.
Life
Luca was born into a Florentine family, the dyers craft exercised ( Robbia, latin Rubia tinctorum, is the Italian name for the dyers madder ).
He entered 1414 in the workshop of Nanni di Banco, where he received training as a sculptor. During a trip to Venice, he had the opportunity to meet, Venetian art and crafts of the lagoon city. After the death of his master in 1421, he joined the workshop of Donatello one, he made the acquaintance of Filippo Brunelleschi, and he learned the techniques of wax casting and forging gold.
Between 1432 and 1435 he worked on the choir loft ( cantoria ) for the Cathedral of Florence, at the Donatello in competition created a quirky and innovative counterpart. While in Della Robbia pulpit the various relief panels are still fitted with dancing and singing boys conventionally in a strictly structured architectural framework, presented Donatello a single continuous relief with a procession of dancing boys behind five pairs of columns that bear the final beams.
Between 1437 and 1438 created Luca as one of his recent sculptural works five figures of the Seven Liberal Arts for the Campanile of Florence Cathedral. From 1439 he devoted himself mainly and very successful of glazed ceramic. Typical of him are terracotta reliefs with blue glazes for the underground, white glazes for the characters and green and yellow for the festoons. The Della Robbia family ran in the sequence a flourishing workshop operation with a production that can ultimately be referred to as an industrial.
On August 31, 1446 the brothers Luca Della Robbia and Simone bought a house on the edge of urban development. This house was the seat of a production workshop for terracotta art, which was operated by three generations of Della Robbia. After the death of Simone in 1448 Luca adoptees whose six sons, among them Andrea Della Robbia, the most successful member of the family. From 1450 Andrea began working closely with his uncle. Only after disagreements they separated. 1470 Luca changed his will in favor of his nephew Simone and Andrea moved to his own farm, which was superior with its industrialized production of colored terracotta reliefs of the workshop of his uncle. Luca Della Robbia died on 20 February 1481st He was buried in the Church of San Pier Maggiore.
The workshop Della Robbia
The workshop was taken over by his nephew Andrea, whose five children were all working in the company. Only after the death of Giovanni della Robbia, the third son Andreas, production came to a standstill.
The family of della Robbia exported its products all over Europe. Were produced Friese, Tondi, lunettes, altarpieces, coats of arms and other for the needs of the nobility as well as devotional images with saints or Mary and the child for private use.
Works
- Cantoria for the Florence Cathedral, 1431-1437
- Reliefs of the liberal arts at the Campanile of the Cathedral of Florence, 1437-1439
- Tabernacle of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence Peretola in 1443
- Bronze door of the sacristy of Florence Cathedral, together with Michelozzo and Maso di Bartolomeo, 1445-1469,
- Lunettes for the Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel in Florence,
- Tomb of Bishop Federighi marble and terracotta, 1454-1457
- Features of the Chapel of the Cardinal del Porto Gallo in the church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, Andrea Della Robbia, together with, 1461-1466