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Madonna of the Niche
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Virgin and Child
Madonna of the Niche
Attributed to: Luca della Robbia (Italian, Florence, 1399 or 1400–1482)
Italian, Florence
Renaissance
about 1448
Object Place: Europe, Florence, Italy
Medium/Technique
Glazed terracotta
Dimensions
Overall: 53 x 44.5 x 7 cm (20 7/8 x 17 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1475
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture
By presenting the Virgin in half-length, placing the figures in a niche, pressing them forward, and emphasizing their embrace, the sculptor made the figures seem closer to the viewer. Pure opaque white glaze, traces of gilding, and the colors of the niche add brilliance to the relief. Reliefs like this were made using molds; other, very similar versions of this composition exist.
DescriptionNiche striped with blue and green and lined up with gold. Frame gilded and hair of both figures. Replica of one in Mrs. George T. Bliss's Collection, but not as fine. Terracotta.
ProvenanceBy 1894, Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston [see note 1]; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] See Allan Marquand, "The Madonnas of Luca della Robbia," American Journal of Archaeology 9, no. 1 (January-March, 1894), pp. 2, 14, no. II (20).
NOTES:
[1] See Allan Marquand, "The Madonnas of Luca della Robbia," American Journal of Archaeology 9, no. 1 (January-March, 1894), pp. 2, 14, no. II (20).