Virgin in white glazed terracotta, in high relief, fragment of a Visitation.
Florence, attributed to the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529), circa 1525
Height: 66 cm - Width: 24.5 cm - Depth: 12 cm
In a Renaissance-style gilded wood frame on a blue background, Height: 108 cm - Width: 81.4 cm
(small chips)
The large white enamelled terracotta group of the Visitation created by Lucca della Robbia in 1445 is known and can be seen in the church of St. John's Outside the Walls in Pistoia (fig.a).
Other interpretations of the same subject were made later where St. Elizabeth places her left hand on Mary's arm as here. This is the case of a tondo by Giovanni, circa 1525, adorning the old hospital in the same Tuscan town (fig.b) and of a lunette by the same artist kept in the Bandini Museum in Fiesole (fig.c). Unlike these polychrome groups, this beautiful fragment is a precious testimony in white enamel of this second Visitation, a theme that has remained rare among the abundant production of the Della Robbia family compared to the Virgins with Child and other Nativities.
Book consulted: Exhibition Nice-Sèvres 2002/2003, The Della Robbias - Enamelled Terracotta Sculptures of the Italian Renaissance, National Museum Biblical Message Marc
Chagall - National Museum of Ceramics, cat.
A thermoluminescence test was carried out by the TechnArt laboratory on 14/10/2021 confirming the dating.
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