ANST - Terracotta Sculpture

[Donald Riney]

Actually Terra cotta goes way Back, pick up a Book calle "A Handbook of 
Roman Art" ISBN 0801492424 Edited by Martin Henig. Chapters 8 and 9 cover 
pottery and terracotta in Roman times, Also check to see how early 
decorative Plaster carving started in Morocco.

Hopefully Helpfull
HL Darius of the Bells


>"Nathan W. Jones" wrote:
>
> > Has anyone seen, heard of, or read anything about terracotta
> > sculpture in our period, or plaster sculpture?  Surely they
> > must have done it.  And, by sculpture, I mean 'art for art's
> > sake', not necessisarily tilework, functional pottery or such.
>
>Good day,
>
>     It's been just long enough since my Art History days to be foggy, but 
>I
>recall there was just this sort of work shop in Florence in the 15th 
>century.
>Founded by Luca della Robbia, it specialized in religious terra-cotta 
>bas-relief
>used as architectural decorative elements.  The workshop remained active 
>into
>the 16th century and was passed down through the family.  Most notable was
>Andrea della Robbia, a nephew, who specialized in narrative sculpture done 
>both
>in marble and ceramic.  Andrea's sons, Giovanni, Girolamo, Luca the 
>Younger, and
>Ambrogio, also became terra-cotta sculptors.
>
>     Most of their work is religious or funerary, but they also did 
>terra-cotta
>portrait.  The 'Tondo Portrait of a Lady' is one example and it hints at 
>your
>question about middle-class art, though I'd imagine 'the Lady' is not
>middle-class.  Andrea also did the medallions on the Foundling Hospital in
>Florence which show simple 'bambini' forms on a blue background.
>
>     Typical of all their work is bas-relief terra-cotta and I know that 
>the
>della Robbia work shop was sort of the Renaissance spring-board that led to
>decorative use of plaster and terra-cotta in the barouque.  I'll have to 
>dig a
>little deeper to see what precursored Luca della Robbia.
>
>     You may also look into the origins of guilded statuary and painting 
>frames.
>Much of the barouque 'gold-leaf' statuary and painting frames were plaster.
>
> > But, (again, just a guess) surely by the time of the Renaissance
> > there was enough of a middle class to support a cheap decorative
> > art.  Especially in cities where it was hard enough keeping up
> > with the 'Medici's'.  I refuse to believe that all sculpture in
> > our period was either done in stone or cast metal.
>
>Note here:  Donatello's 'The Penitent Magdalene' was done in wood with gold
>leaf.  He and the della Robbia's were contemporaries from Florence and 
>likely
>would have known something of each other's methods.
>
>'The Penitent Magdalene' can be seen at:  
>http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm
>(under Donatello)
>
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > Gio
> > Northkeep
> > Ansteorra
>
>Hope this helps,
>David St. David, Raven's Fort
>
>these web sites are in Italian but they've got photos
>http://www.ocaiw.com/dellarob.htm
>http://www.thais.it/scultura/scultura.htm
>
>You can also see reproductions of the della Robbia's work in the 'Design
>Toscano' catalog (just in case you'd like to buy one).
>
>dsd
>
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