della Robbia family

Family of Italian artists active in Florence. The first works of Luca (di Simone di Marco) della Robbia (1399/1400–82) were reliefs sculptured in marble, most notably those for the Cantoria (singing gallery) of the Florence cathedral (1432–37). He is remembered mainly for his development of glazed terra-cotta as a medium for sculpture; his major terra-cotta works include roundels of the Apostles (c. 1444) in Filippo Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel in Santa Croce. In time the della Robbia studio became a potters' workshop, famous especially for its renderings of the Madonna and Child in white enamel on a blue ground. Andrea (di Marco) della Robbia (1435–1525), Luca's nephew, assumed control of the workshop c. 1470. Trained as a marble sculptor, his best-known works are 10 roundels of infants on the facade of Florence's Foundling Hospital (c. 1487). Giovanni della Robbia (1469–1529), the most distinguished of Andrea's sons, took control of the family workshop after his father's death. His early works, notably a lavabo in Santa Maria Novella (1497) and medallions in the Loggia of San Paolo (1493–95), were collaborations with his father.

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