By Anne Leader
Andrea di Marco della Robbia was born 24 October 1435 in Florence. A nephew of sculptor Luca della Robbia (d. 1482), Andrea worked with the glazed terracotta technique made famous by his uncle, coming to run the family’s successful workshop in Florence after 1470. Andrea’s works tend to be more decorative and complex than his uncle’s and have a pictorial quality typical of the workshop after he took the helm. Hugely popular, Robbia-ware could be found throughout Tuscany and Umbria in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries in private and public settings.
Reference: Giancarlo Gentilini. “Robbia, della.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Virgin and Child, ca. 1470-75, glazed terracotta. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Edith and Herbert Lehman Foundation Inc., 1969.
Bust of a Boy, ca. 1475, glazed terracotta, Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Tondo, ca. 1487, glazed terracotta, Florence, Ospedale degli Innocenti
Annunciation, ca. 1475, glazed terracotta, Chiesa Maggiore, La Verna