Virgin and Child
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Virgin and Child” now? Victoria and Albert Museum, Ceramics, Room 143, The Timothy Sainsbury Gallery, London. Yes, on view now. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
RoomCeramics, Room 143, The Timothy Sainsbury Gallery
Closed· opens at 10:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the sculpture
This relief in blue and white tin-glazed terracotta is made by Andrea della Robbia in Florence in 1487-88.
The relief appears to have been commissioned by Gabriele di Cambio de' Medici, whose marriage to Lucrezia di Alessandro Rondinelli took place in 1487-88. The style of the relief is related to that of Andrea del Verroccio.
The Della Robbia family was an Italian family of sculptors and potters. They were active in Florence from the early 15th century and elsewhere in Italy and France well into the 16th.
Read on
Luca della Robbia founded the family sculpture workshop in Florence and was regarded by contemporaries as a leading artistic innovator, comparable to Donatello and Masaccio. The influence of antique art and his characteristic liveliness and charm are evident in such works as the marble singing-gallery for Florence Cathedral. He is credited with the invention of the tin-glazed terracotta sculpture for which the family became well known.
His nephew Andrea della Robbia, who inherited the workshop, tended to use more complex compositions and polychrome glazing rather than the simple blue-and-white schemes favoured by his uncle.
Trained as a marble sculptor in the studio of his uncle Luca, Andrea della Robbia also became an excellent modeller, unrivalled in his ability to capture the life of his subjects in glazed clay.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- 7630-1861
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
