Madonna and Child

Abstract

Gentilini and others attribute this rare full-length slazed terracotta statue of the Madonna and Child to the young Andrea della Robbia, possibly working from drawings by Luca della Robbia. This work was made in 1460, just two years after Andrea was given the title of "intagliatore" (sculptor, or, more specifically, carver) by the Arte dei Maestri di Pietra e Legname (the guild of Gasters of Stone and Wood). The white glaze was originally made even more brilliant by gilding, traces of which remain on the Virgin's garments and hair. The work was made and fired in two parts; the joint is concleaed beneath the folds of the fabric. The baby carries a scroll, inscribed EGO SUM LUX MUNDI (I am the light of the world), a metaphor literalized in the shining surfaces of the statue used earlier in Luca della Robbia's Madonna and Child in the Innocenti in Florence. The abstraction of the overall white glaze is balanced by the humanity of the unusually young-looking Virgin, who appears without a veil, and the realism of her knotted belt. The statue is housed in the church museum of Santa Maria della Fraternita in Foiano della Chiana. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.