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Giovanni Della Robbia

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Giovanni Della Robbia PR INCETON M ONOG R A P II S IN ART AND ARC HAEOLOG Y VI II GIOVAN N I D EL LA ROBBIA BY AL L AN M ARQUAN D PROF E S S OR OF AR T AND ARCH AE OL OGY IN PRINCE TON UNIVE RS ITY P RI NC ETO N UN IVERSITY PRESS PRI NCETO N LO N DO N : H UM PH REY M I LFOR D OXFO RD UN IVE RSITY P RESS 1920 FOGG ART MUS EUM Co ri ht mo b rinceton Universit ress py g , , y P y P Printed by Princeton University Press rin o A cet n N U . S . P , . L, ublished ctober 1920 P , O , PREFACE ’ In this volume I have presented a Catalogue Raisonne of the works of o a Gi vanni della Robbia , publishing for the first time m ny new monuments o nt . and new d cume s The writings of Dr Bode , of Marcel Reymond , and of Miss Cruttwell will have made the public sufficiently familiar with Luca a o and Andrea dell Robbia , but no one has br ught together into a unified treatise the works of Giovanni della Robbia. The present volume should present to the eye of the interested student a sufficient number of works by Giovanni della Robbia to enable him to recogn ize the characteristics o f his style . In other volumes we may ho pe to distinguish the correlated ’ . l o works of the Buglioni , and of Giovanni s brothers Logica ly the v lume on Andrea della Robbia should follow the monograph on Luca della Rob but o u so o bia, the utp t of his atelier was en rmous and the individualities of e ill e his succ ssors so defin d , that I have prefered to delay publication , hop ing that the disc overy of new documents may shed some light on the oh r on o f scure po ti s this field . n e to . As usual I have to ack owledge my indebt dness Mr Rufus G . Mather for his careful revision of already published and for his discovery of new n docume ts . CONTENTS DU CT O I . INTRO I N A L E OF O M E II . C TA OGU M NU NTS B LI OG A H Y AN D I N DEx III . BI R P INTRODUCTION OG A H Y . I . BI R P was e 1 6 Giovanni della Robbia born on the nin teenth of May , 4 9 at three ’ was ba n . o clock in the morning, and ptized on the followi g day ( Doc “ ” et al The baptismal records give him two names Giovanni Antonio , though he was known only by the former. The name Giovanni had been r - a borne by his g and uncle Ser Giovanni dell Robbia , a notary and chancel 1 1 o lor of Florence , who died about 45 . It may be observed , h wever, that ’ ’ n his suffi his mother s name was Giova na , and grandmother s Antonia , a ’ cient explanation for both his names . The same record gives his father s ’ ’ m n as na e as A drea di Giovanni , a manifest error, Andrea s father s name V i . Was a was Marco His birthplace in the family home in the Guelfa , Vi r e 1 6 - a and corner of a Nazionale, pu chas d in 44 by his grand uncles Luc h a . t e Marco dell Robbia It was in Popolo di San Lorenzo , and the Gon f alone . di Lione doro Here , surrounded by his relatives , Giovanni lived h i and worked during all is life . Whether to be set up in Florence or ts neighborhood , or in some distant town like Arcevia in the Marches , his monuments were moulded and baked in this house on the Via Guelfa in a an ticucina room called the , where was the furnace and mixing troughs used by Andrea della Robbia and by his sons , Giovanni , Luca , and Girolamo 1 2 1 6 . A. 0 ( A J . , XXIII , 9 , 3 In 1 50 2 or 1 50 3 Giovanni married To mmasa di Carlo di Geri Bartoli ( Doc . 2 This connection may have been of value to Giovanni della m n Robbia . The Bartoli fa ily were represe ted many times as Priors or a i . e Gonf lon eri in Florence One of them Dom nico Bartoli , with his wife n a Rucellai o t Maddale , was given permissi n to decora e the Cappella di 5 . r Maria degli Angeli at the famous F anciscan monastery at La Verna . ’ Their coats of arms appear upon Andrea s very beautiful altarpiece of the a as as Madonn della Cintola , well upon two later altarpieces . G a five : 1 1 iov nni and Tommasa had children ( ) Marco, born Dec . 9 , I 0 2 1 1 I 0 5 3 ; ( ) Filippo , a painter , born Apr. , 5 5 ; ( 3 ) Lucantonio , born 1 1 6 . 0 s . 2 1 1 0 8 r 1 2 8 Apr 4, 5 ; ( 4) Ale sandra , born Oct , 5 , mar ied in 5 Lo a s Altoviti I 0 renzo di Lion rdo di Tomma o , and died in 57 ; and ( 5 ) Simone , 2 6 1 1 1 . 2 1 2 1 2 born April , 5 One son died on Aug 5 , 5 5 , and two in 5 7 , but th eir names are not recorded ( Docs . 4 Nor is it kn own whether ’ an n y of Giovan i s sons worked in his atelier . It is true that in 1 5 1 8 his son M ec e eldest arco r eipt d for a part of the compensation due to Giovanni , s i but this does not neces ar ly imply participation in the work . n was . o Giova ni one of a family of twelve The eldest , Ant nia , born Jan . xii INTRODUCTION 2 1 1 6 1 8 i , 4 5 , was married in 4 5 to Girolamo di Michele di Giovanni Masca 68 . 6 1 zone ; the second , Marco, born Apr , 4 , became Fra Mattia in S Marco 1 Nov . 2 1 0 in 496 ; Giovanni was the third ; the fourth , Paolo , born , 47 , 8 1 was L isabetta t . 1 became a soldier ; the fifth , born Sep , 473 ; the sixth , 1 1 2 2 A noletta a n . 2 6 . Luc , bor Aug , 475 , married Sept 4, 5 g di Piero di 1 2 8 Bartolommea a Altoviti Paolo Falconieri , and in 5 di Lion rdo ; the s 2 1 F ra Am seventh , Francesco or Pierfrance co , born July 3 , 477 , became 5 1 . 1 1 80 be brogio in . Marco in 49 5 ; the eighth , Caterina , born Aug 9 , 4 , 1 6 came Suo ra Speranza in the Monasterio di 5 . Lucia in 49 ; the ninth , 1 1 8 . 1 e Piero , born Apr . 4 , 4 3 , died Jan I , 493 ; the t nth , Margherita , born 2 1 86 a A nolina 5 . May 3 , 4 , bec me Suora g in the Monasterio di Lucia in 1 1 88 1 1 0 2 e . 0 5 ; the leventh , Girolamo , born Mar , 4 , married in 543 Luisa 1 1 2 1 1 di Piero Mattei ; the twelfth , Maria , born Sept . , 49 , married in 5 3 Tommaso di Marco Fantini . his - Of brothers , Luca and Girolamo worked in glazed terra cotta and - doubtless collaborated with him before they went to France in 1 5 2 8 1 52 9 . Ft a Mattia and Fra Ambrogio seem to have been more independent of the family atelier and had a furnace of their own in the Marches . ’ During the late years of his father s life Giovanni was the most produc H i ’ tive and leading spirit in the atelier. s father s financial resources were doubtless strained to care for his large family and Giovanni was expected to provide in great measure for himself . So we find him entering into hi as r n contracts on s own account . Possibly he w ext avagant i his ex enditures as co was his p , the documents ncerning the dot he to receive from a law was o wife show th t his father in , Carlo di Geri Bartoli m st anxious . as . e to avoid risks It may be , Mr Math r suggests , that the marriage of m a a Giovanni and Tom asa was contr cted without mention of dowry , but 6 1 0 1 0 8 and 1 1 1 c Document shows that in 5 7 , 5 , 5 Carlo purchased se urities o fl in 1 8 or s 0 . o for this purp se amounting altogether to 53 , soldi P ssibly the m was 60 0 flo rin s dellO amount pro ised , as is indicated in the Spogli Strozzi ( Doc . Giovanni was not allowed to endanger this property save with his h an d at e was re the consent of fat er in law , for a part of it l ast he ’ to quired also have his father s consent . o n e . Gi va ni app ars , however, to have drawn against this account ( Doc e e r t . to have received int r st on it, and to have made va ious reinves ments Documents 8 and 9 indicate that after the death of his father and father in law the amount of the dowry remaining in the Monte decreased ma teriall y in amount .
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