The Conservation of Della Robbia Sculpture: An

Article: The Conservation of della Robbia Sculpture: An Exhibition as Initiator of Work Author: Abigail Hykin Source: Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Volume Twenty-Four, 2017 Pages: 1–25 Editors: Emily Hamilton and Kari Dodson, with Tony Sigel Program Chair ISSN (print version) 2169-379X ISSN (online version) 2169-1290 © 2019 by American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works 727 15th Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 452-9545 www.culturalheritage.org Objects Specialty Group Postprints is published annually by the Objects Specialty Group (OSG) of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC). It is a conference proceedings volume consisting of papers presented in the OSG sessions at AIC Annual Meetings. Under a licensing agreement, individual authors retain copyright to their work and extend publications rights to the American Institute for Conservation. Unless otherwise noted, images are provided courtesy of the author, who has obtained permission to publish them here. This article is published in the Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Volume Twenty-Four, 2017. It has been edited for clarity and content. The article was peer-reviewed by content area specialists and was revised based on this anonymous review. Responsibility for the methods and materials described herein, however, rests solely with the author(s), whose article should not be considered an official statement of the OSG or the AIC. OSG2017-Hykin.indd 1 12/14/19 4:58 AM THE CONSERVATION OF DELLA ROBBIA SCULPTURE: AN EXHIBITION AS INITIATOR OF WORK ABIGAIL HYKIN There has been a resurgence of interest in glazed terracotta sculpture from the Italian Renaissance. This article provides an overview of work of the della Robbia and related workshops, summarizing the history, technique, and observations gleaned from the 2016 to 2017 exhibition, Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence. KEYWORDS: Conservation, Sculpture, Terracotta, Clay, Glaze, Technique, Italian Renaissance, della Robbia, Buglioni, Rustici 1. INTRODUCTION This article serves as an overview and introduction to a series of articles on the conservation of glazed terracotta sculpture from the Italian Renaissance, presented as a special session on the conservation of della Robbia sculpture in the Objects Specialty Group with related presentations in the General, Research and Technical Studies, and Poster Sessions. Together, this group of articles covers recent studies, treatments, and mounting of important and large-scale works from three generations of the della Robbia and Buglioni workshops. Many, but not all, of these projects were carried out in preparation for the exhibition Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence, which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) in August 2016 and then travelled to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, closing in June 2017. This was the first exhibition in North America devoted to the della Robbia. In Boston it brought together 46 works from 21 collections: 19 museums and 2 private collections, primarily from the United States but also including six key loans from Italy. At both venues, the exhibition opened with Giovanni della Robbia’s spectacular relief depicting the Resurrection of Christ (fig. 1). The use of an opaque, bright and shiny tin-opacified glaze applied to terracotta as a sculptural medium was a new form of art developed by Luca della Robbia in Florence in the 15th century. This article presents an overview of della Robbia sculpture: reviewing the different generations, summarizing the technique and its development, and highlighting some of what we have learned from bringing these works together. The production of della Robbia sculpture in Florence lasted for only a period of about 130 years (fig. 2). Luca della Robbia (1399/1400–1482) invented the technique sometime before 1440, passing the secrets on to his nephew Andrea (1435–1525). Andrea had 12 children, at least 5 of whom became sculptors. His son Giovanni (1469–1529/30) took over the shop in Florence; by the time of Giovanni’s death, the other siblings had either died or moved away, working as sculptors elsewhere in Italy or in France, and the della Robbia shop seems to have closed. Also working in Florence, Benedetto Buglioni (1459/60– 1521) somehow acquired the workshop methods from the della Robbias, either, as Vasari tells us, with the help of a woman who worked in the household or, more likely, he was employed in the workshop himself before setting out on his own. Benedetto adopted a young relative, called Santi Buglioni (1494– 1576), who took over the business and would be the last of this group to work in the “della Robbia technique” until the style was revived in the 19th century. The Buglioni are now being studied as artists AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Vol. 24, 2017 1 OSG2017-Hykin.indd 1 12/14/19 4:58 AM 2 Fig. 1. View of the exhibition in Boston, with Giovanni della Robbia, Resurrection of Christ, about 1520–25, glazed terracotta, 156.2 × 349.3 × 29.2 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of A. Augustus Healy, 99.5 (Image © Museum of Fine Art, Boston, 2017) in their own right. Other Florentine sculptors, such as Giovanni Francesco Rustici (1475–1554), worked occasionally in the technique. The works of the della Robbias were highly sought after in the 19th and early 20th centuries and are found in many American museums. Some of the earliest examples to come to the United States were collected by Charles Callahan Perkins in the mid-19th century and donated to the MFA upon its founding in 1870 (Cambareri 2016). Tastes changed, however, and what followed was a long period of neglect—even disdain—through much of the later 20th century. Over the past 40 years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the works of the della Robbias, beginning with Pope-Hennessy’s monograph on Luca (1980) and especially with the major monograph by Gentilini (1992), as well as exhibitions curated by Gentilini in Florence (1998) and Arezzo (2009), and technical publications, most of which are in written French and Italian (Vaccari 1996; Vaccari 1998; Bouquillon et al. 2004; Bouquillon, Bormand, and Zucchiatti 2011). Our understanding of della Robbia sculpture has been greatly enhanced by this recent work. The renewed appreciation of della Robbia sculpture means that both museum and private conservators may find themselves working on this material in coming years. 2. LUCA DELLA ROBBIA Luca della Robbia was born in Florence around 1400. His parents were in the textile trade and Luca is believed to have been trained as a goldsmith before becoming one of the most celebrated sculptors of the Renaissance, working initially in marble and bronze. When Luca was in his thirties, and Florence’s Hykin AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Vol. 24, 2017 OSG2017-Hykin.indd 2 12/14/19 4:58 AM 3 1440’s 1575 Luca della Robbia, 1399/1400-1482 Andrea della Robbia, 1435-1525 Giovanni della Robbia, 1469-1529/30 Benedetto Buglioni, 1459/60-1521 Santi Buglioni, 1494-1576 Giovanni Francesco Rustici, 1475-1554 Marco della Robbia, 1468-1534 Francesco della Robbia, 1477-1527/28 Luca della Robbia the Younger, 1475-1548 Girolamo della Robbia, 1488-1566 1400 1450 1500 1550 Fig. 2. Timeline showing the production of della Robbia and related workshops (Courtesy of Richard Newman) cathedral was just completed with the addition of Brunelleschi’s dome, Luca was commissioned to participate in several projects for the interior of the cathedral, along with Donatello, Ghiberti, and others. Luca’s best-known work in marble—his Cantoria (organ loft) depicting children singing, dancing, and making music—was commissioned when he was about thirty years old and placed over the sacristy door at the left side of the crossing opposite another Cantoria by Donatello. Both cantorie have been replaced with modern organs in the Cathedral and can now be seen in the Duomo Museum. Luca also created a set of bronze doors for the Sacrestia delle Messe, set under his Cantoria (1440s–1470s). In the 1440s, Luca was commissioned to create two large-scale lunettes to go over the sacristy doors depicting the Resurrection and the Ascension (fig. 3). These reliefs, which as far as we know have never been removed, are Luca’s earliest firmly documented use of glazed terracotta as a sculptural medium. Therefore, they are key to understanding to the development of the technique. The first of the lunettes to be completed, the Resurrection, is glazed primarily with blue and white (and was also partially gilded). Documents indicate that the officials requested more naturalistic colors (i.e., green trees) for the second. Recent art historical work stresses that Luca was paid not just for these commissions but was paid an additional sum in recognition of his invention.1 It is important to note that this use of glaze on figurative terracotta sculpture was seen, in its own time, as a new material and was Hykin AIC Objects Specialty Group Postprints, Vol. 24, 2017 OSG2017-Hykin.indd 3 12/14/19 4:58 AM 4 Fig. 3. The interior of the Florence Cathedral in 2016. Luca della Robbia’s Resurrection (1445) lunette is seen on the left and his Ascension of Christ (1446) on the right. Luca also created the bronze door below the Resurrection. His Cantoria was originally placed on the left, above the Resurrection, but is now in the Duomo Museum. valued for its innovation. The concept of ingegno, or innovation, is explored deeply in the exhibition catalog and was highly valued in the Florentine renaissance (Cambareri 2016). Luca’s work was also valued for its permanence—the ability of the glazed terracotta to retain its bright, legible colors even when kept outdoors. A good example of this is at Orsanmichele, the former grain hall transformed into a church of the Florentine guilds.

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