Andrea della Robbia

Andrea della Robbia (born Oct. 20, 1435, Florence [Italy]—died Aug. 4, 1525) was a Florentine sculptor who assumed control of the family workshop after his uncle’s death in 1482.

Like Luca, Andrea della Robbia was apparently trained as a marble sculptor. His best-known works are 10 roundels of foundlings in swaddling clothes on the facade of Filippo Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence (c. 1463). Andrea’s interest in narrative sculpture led him to develop from the reliefs of Luca a class of large polychrome reliefs, of which characteristic examples exist at numerous churches in Italy, including the Franciscan shrine at La Verna and Santa Croce in Florence, as well as many museums outside Italy. The development of Andrea’s style between 1475 and 1522 can be followed through a sequence of dated or documented works. Many of his smaller reliefs exist in a quantity of versions turned out from the della Robbia studio.