Madonna and Child with Angels

Abstract

This glazed terracotta lunette of the Madonna and Child with angels, along with the glazed terracotta ornament on the barrel vault above, was commissioned in 1504 , brought to Pistoia in July 1505, and installed by the artist (Andrea della Robbia), one of his sons, and an assistant named Michele between 26 July and 24 August 1505. The poses of the central figures (closely embracing, with Jesus standing) are close to those in a number of Andrea's reliefs made for domestic devotion as well as to those in his other lunettes, for example the lunette for Sant'Orsola currently in the portico of the Accademia in Florence. Unlike the Sant'Orsola image, however, the composition is strictly blue and white, which is typical of Andrea's work in general, but the blue here is paler than the rich royal Della Robbia blue. Even in the coffering above, only the yellow rosettes depart from the bichrome scheme. Andrea strikingly used only the white glaze for the the leafy fruits and pinecones, which are invariably polychromed in other works by Andrea and his uncle Luca, even when the central figures are purely blue and white. These works have lost their original gilding, which would have added some warmth to the scheme and made the yellow rosettes seem more of a piece with the whole. Perhaps the reduced range of colours was chosen to harmonize with the green and white marble of the church. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.