Madonna and Child with Cherubim

c. 1485

Andrea della Robbia

Sculptor, Florentine, 1435 - 1525

Sculpted in painted terracotta, a woman is shown from the waist up, bracing a standing nude, plump baby boy. The woman, baby, and two winged heads floating to either side are sculpted in snow-white relief against a flat, cobalt-blue background, all contained within a round gold frame. The roundel is then framed within a rectangular wooden panel ornamented with gold and blue molding, rosettes, and leafy designs. The boy, woman, and winged heads all have plate-like halos, and their eyes have hazel-brown irises outlined in black. Within the round frame, the boy stands to our left of center, and his halo nearly reaches the top of the roundel. His body faces us as he stands on his right leg, to our left. That foot seems to rest on the ledge of the round frame, and he leans against the woman, to our right. He looks off over our left shoulder, his pursed lips set between chubby cheeks. With both pudgy hands, he holds onto the woman’s thumb or garment as she braces his torso. Her body is angled toward the boy, and she looks down and off in that direction. She has a straight nose, a pointed chin, delicate lips, and her thin eyebrows are black. Her wavy hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a veil, and her long-sleeved garment falls in folds down her front. Her other hand wraps around the baby’s far hip. The winged baby heads hover at her shoulders, one to each side. The blue background has some bands of lighter and darker blue, suggesting a cloud-streaked sky. Gold rosettes fill the top corners between the round frame and the square panel into which it is set. Shield-like forms fill the lower corners. Fluted columns rise to either side of the central panel, and molding runs across the top and bottom. Some of the molding is painted gold, while other areas have gold, leafy patterns painted against the blue background.

Media Options

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Andrea della Robbia carried on the popular and lucrative production of terra-cotta sculpture covered with enamel glaze, a technique developed in the 1430s and 1440s by his uncle Luca. The glazed coating gave the colors of della Robbia's works a degree of durability impossible for sculpture that was simply painted. Their white-glazed figures, set off against deep blue grounds and sometimes surrounded by multicolored garlands of fruit or flowers (as in Andrea's Adoration of the Child), were in demand as devotional images for churches, homes, and outdoor shrines.

The half-length treatment of the Virgin brings us close to the figures, whose attitudes combine tenderness and solemnity. The Virgin holds the Child gently, her forehead grazing his hair. The child rests his left arm against her chest and clutches her left hand, as he clings to a corner of her veil. Yet for all their physical closeness, they do not look at each other, and their expressions are grave. The Virgin's downcast gaze suggests meditation on the child's fate. The child turns his face toward the world, but his eyes, with pupils drifting upward, also suggest contemplation. Their thoughts seem to converge on the same sorrowful theme: the coming Passion and death of Christ.

On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G15

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    glazed terracotta

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    diameter: 54.7 cm (21 9/16 in.)
    framed: 95.25 x 88.27 x 14.61 cm (37 1/2 x 34 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.)
    framed weight: 45.36 kg (100 lb.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.122

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly sold by (M. Guggenheim, Venice) to Louis Félix, vicomte de Nolivos [1805-after 1867], Paris;[1] probably (de Nolivos sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19-20 January 1866); Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 with the entire Dreyfus collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, Paris, and New York);[2] purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[3] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] A label removed from the object reads "M. Guggenheim, Antiquario, Calle de Fuseri No 4275, Venezia."
[2] According to David Finley's notebook, donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977 and now in Gallery Archives, the provenance also includes Charles Timbal [1821-1880], from whom Dreyfus is known to have purchased a large number of art works. However, Timbal's name does not appear in any other reference to the work.
[3] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files; the sculpture is listed as by Luca della Robbia.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2016

  • Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016-2017, no. 64, repro.

Bibliography

1883

  • Perkins, Charles. Historical Handbook of Italian Sculpture. London, 1883: 402.

1884

  • Cavallucci, J. C. and Émile Molinier. Les Della Robbia, leur vie et leur oeuvre. Paris, 1884: 282, as atelier of Luca.

1900

  • Burlamacchi, L. Luca della Robbia. London, 1900 (reprinted 1908): 86, as Luca.

1904

  • Cruttwell, Maud. Luca and Andrea della Robbia. London, 1904: 351, as della Robbia atelier.

1907

  • Vitry, Paul. "La collection de M. Gustave Dreyfus: I. - La Sculpture." Les Arts 72 (December 1907): repro. 11.

1912

  • Marquand, Allan. Della Robbias in America. Princeton, 1912: 45.

1913

  • De Ricci, Seymour. In Jean-Louis Ganay, Exposition d’objets d’art du moyen age et de la renaissance tirés des collections particulières de la France et de l'étranger organisée par la Marquise de Ganay à l’ancien Hôtel de Sagan (Mai-Juin 1913). Paris, n.d.: n.p., text for plate X, which depicts a similar sculpture.

1922

  • Marquand, Allan. Andrea della Robbia and his atelier. 2 vols. Princeton, 1922: 1: 71-74; 2:55, no. 153.

1930

  • Dreyfus Collection. Certain of the Sculptures from the collection of M. Gustave Dreyfus, Paris, which was acquired in its Entirety from the Executors of his Estate in MDCCCCXXX by Sir Joseph Duveen, Bart. [with photos by Clarence Kennedy]. Florence, 1930: repro. XXXIII [issued in variant editions, not all plates numbered the same in each].

1931

  • “Einige weitere Abbildungen aus der Sammlung Gustave Dreyfus.” Pantheon 7 (March 1931): repro. 119, as Luca.

1932

  • Rowlandson, Benjamin, Jr. "The Dreyfus Collection. A Review of the Exhibition." Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum 1 (March 1932): 54-56.

1937

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 29.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 232, no. A-11, as by Andrea della Robbia Atelier.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. “Great Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance in the National Gallery.” Art News 40, no. 9 (1-31 July 1941): repro. 11, as by Luca.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 253, repro. 234, as by Andrea della Robbia Atlier.

1944

  • Duveen Brothers, Inc. Duveen Sculpture in Public Collections of America: A Catalog Raisonné with illustrations of Italian Renaissance Sculptures by the Great Masters which have passed through the House of Duveen. New York, 1944: figs. 36-38, as by Luca della Robbia.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 164, repro., as by Atelier of Andrea della Robbia.

1964

  • Pope-Hennessy, John, assisted by Ronald Lightbown. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 3 vols. London, 1964: 1:214-215.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 166, as by Studio of Andrea della Robbia.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 146, repro., as by Studio of Andrea della Robbia.

1988

  • Kecks, Ronald G. Madonna und Kind. Das häusliche Andachtsbild im Florenz des 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1988: 138, repro. fig. 74a.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 289, repro.

  • Gentilini, Giancarlo. I Della Robbia. La scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento. Florence, 1992: 1:221, 270 n. 29.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 196, repro.

1998

  • Gentilini, Giancarlo, ed. I Della Robbia e l’arte nuova della scultura invetriata. Exh. cat. Fiesole, Basilica di Sant’Alessandro, 29 May – 1 November 1998. Florence, 1998: 105 repro., 194.

2000

  • Olson, Roberta J. M. The Florentine Tondo. Oxford, 2000: 144 repro., 149.

2002

  • Olson, Roberta J. M., and Daphne S. Barbour. “Toward a new method for studying glazed terracottas. Examining a group of tondi by Andrea della Robbia.” Apollo 154, no. 475 (September 2001): 44-52, 48, 50, repro. fig. 3, nn. 35, 37, 52.

2011

  • Barbour, Daphne and Robert J. M. Olson. "New methods for studying serialization in the workshop of Andrea della Robbia: technical study and analysis." In Anne Bouquillon, Marc Bormand and Alessandro Zucchiatti, eds. Della Robbia: dieci anni di studi—dix ans d’études. Proceedings of a round table of studies on the Della Robbia family held in Paris, Dec. 2009. Genoa, 2011: 56-61, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q59342667

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