Madonna and Child

between 1445 and 1450

Luca della Robbia Italian, 1399-1482

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

Madonna and Child: 1 of Collection Gallery

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Although Luca della Robbia also worked in marble, bronze, and wood, he is best known for introducing enameled terracotta sculpture around 1440 and for founding a family dynasty of sculptors working in this medium. Typical of his terracotta sculpture, this relief is one of four versions of the so-called Genoa Madonna (one of which was originally in Genoa), each with slight differences in their modeling and expression.

Title Madonna and Child

Artwork Date between 1445 and 1450

Artist Luca della Robbia

Life Dates 1399-1482

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Enameled terracotta

Dimensions Unframed: 19 1/2 × 14 1/2 inches (49.5 × 36.8 cm) Framed: 40 × 29 1/2 inches, 42 pounds (101.6 × 74.9 cm, 19.1 kg)

Classification Sculpture

Department European Sculpture and Dec Arts

Credit City of Detroit Purchase

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 29.355

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Dr. Eduard Georg Simon [1864-1929] (Berlin, Germany)

1929-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Bode, W. Munchener Jahrbuch der Bilden Kunst. 1906, pp. 28-30.

Marquand, A. Della Robbias in America. Princeton, 1912, p. 8, no. 2.

Marquand, A. Luca della Robbia. Princeton, 1914, p. 153, no. 39.

Walther, Josephine. "A Genoese Madonna by Luca Della Robbia." Bulletin of the DIA 11, no. 3 (December 1929): pp. 34-35, p. 33 (ill.).

"America Now Has Five Luca della Robbias." The Art Digest: The News-Magazine of Art, Mid-December 1929, p.8, (ill. on cover).

Valentiner, W.R. Italian Gothic and Early Renaissance Sculptures. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1938, no. 33 (ill.) [unpaginated].

Masterpieces of Art. Exh. cat., New York World's Fair. New York, 1939, no. 425.

Planiscig, L. Luca della Robbia. Florence, 1948, p. 69, pl. 96.

Decorative Arts of the Italian Renaissance 1400-1600. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1958, p. 72, no. 154.

Pope-Hennessy, John. Luca della Robia. Ithaca, 1980, pp. 65-66, cat. no. 41.

Avery, C. Studies in European Sculpture. London, 1981, p. 6.

"Family Art Game," DIA Advertising Supplement, Detroit News, April 14, 1985, p. 32 (ill.).

100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 136, 137 (ill.).

Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts and Kimbell Art Museum. Detroit and Fort Worth, 1985, pp. 155-156, p. 60, pl. 13.

Darr, A.P. "A Valentiner Legacy: Italian Sculpture in Detroit." Apollo 124 (December 1986): p. 480.

Fusco, M. "The Genius of the Quattrocento" Attenzione 8, no. 1 (January-February 1986): p. 53 (ill.).

Kecks, R. Madonna und Kind: das hausliche Andachtsbild in Florenz des 15. Jarhunderts. Berlin, 1988, p. 90.

Gentillini, G. I Della Robbia: La scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento, 2 vols. Florence, 1992, p. 102, 50, (ill.).

Darr, A.P., P. Barnet, A. Boström, C. Avery, et al. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Detroit Institute of Arts London, 2002, 2 vols., I, cat. 52.

Earth and Fire: Italian Terracotta Sculpture from Donatello to Canova, ed. Bruce Boucher. New Haven, 2001, pp. 118-119.

Cambareri, Marietta, et. al. Della Robbia Sculptures in American Collections. Exh. cat., The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 2016, pp. 91-93.

Paolozzi Strozzi, Beatrice, and Marc Bormand, eds. The Springtime of the Renaissance: Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400–60. Exh. cat., Palazzo Strozzi/Musée du Louvre. Florence, 2013, pp. 446–447 (ill.).

Motture, Peta, ed. Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance. Exh. cat., Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 2023, p. 171, cat. no. 2.22 (ill.).

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