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Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence: the Della Robbia Exhibition at the National Gallery of Art

THIS EVENT STARTS AT 6:00 PM

Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture at the National Gallery of Art, presents a lecture on the first comprehensive exhibition of Della Robbia glazed terracotta sculpture in the United States. Originating at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the show has taken new form at the National Gallery of Art in Washington from February 5 through June 4, 2017.

Installed amid the light-filled architectural spaces designed by John Russell Pope based on ancient Roman and Renaissance models, the exhibition focuses on the new art form that emerged in fifteenth- century Florence through the genius of Luca della Robbia. Exalting a humble material, clay, through brilliant modeling and surfaces shining with time-defying color, Luca created sculpture of a kind unknown to the ancients, legible at great distances, suitable for both indoor and outdoor display and, as Vasari wrote, “almost eternal (quasi eterne)”.

Through 40 fine examples the exhibition shows how Luca, his nephew Andrea, Andrea’s  sons and the competing Buglioni family continued to innovate as they created works in glazed terracotta, from high reliefs to small household statuettes to life-sized sculpture in the round,  meeting international demand for both religious and secular sculpture over three generations. Most of the works exhibited come from American collections, but six key loans have come from Italy, include Luca’s remarkable Visitation from San Giovanni Fuorcivitas in Pistoia.  The human sensitivity, spirit-lifting color and technical ingenuity that secures the appeal of Della Robbia sculpture into the twenty-first century are explored through the exhibition and the lecture.

 

LOCATION

Embassy of Italy – Auditorium
3000 Whitehaven Street NW 
Washington, DC 20008

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

DOORS OPEN BETWEEN 5:30PM AND 5:55PM

PLEASE NOTE: RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH EVENTBRITE. NO PHONE OR EMAIL RSVP AVAILABLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

 

EXHIBITION INFO: CLICK HERE (National Gallery of Art page)

Sponsors: The exhibition – at National Gallery of Art – is made possible by Altria Group on behalf of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, and by Marchesi Antinori S.p.A. Major support is provided by Sally Engelhard Pingree and The Charles Engelhard Foundation, and the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Foundation. Additional funding is provided by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

 

ALISON LUCHS

Alison Luchs is curator of early European sculpture and deputy head of the department of sculpture and decorative arts at the National Gallery of Art, where she has worked since 1980. A graduate of Vassar College (B.A.) and The Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.), she has taught art history at Swarthmore College and Syracuse University.  Her publications include an English translation of Martin Wackernagel’s World of the Florentine Renaissance Artist (1981); Tullio Lombardo and Ideal Portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, 1490-1530 (1995); and The Mermaids of Venice: Fantastic Sea Creatures in Venetian Renaissance Art (2010).  She helped plan the new ground floor sculpture galleries in the National Gallery’s West Building, and  has collaborated on exhibitions of sculpture by Desiderio da Settignano, Tullio Lombardo, and  Michelangelo, also contributing to the catalogue for the National Gallery’s recent Piero di Cosimo exhibition.

 

  • Organizzato da: IIC Washington, Embassy of Italy
  • In collaborazione con: National Gallery of Art