Kneeling Angel thumbnail 1
Kneeling Angel thumbnail 2
+3
images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 50b, The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery

Kneeling Angel

Figure
1450-1525 (made)
Artist/Maker
Robbia, Andrea Della (workshop of)
Place of origin
Florence (made)

This angel forms a pair with the angel 7614-1861. They are tin-glaze terracotta made by a member of the della Robbia family, possibly Andrea or his son Giovanni. They may have formed part of a larger relief, as their hands and knees are missing.

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. Family members were traditionally employed in the textile industry, and their name derives from rubia tinctorum, a red dye.
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.


Object details

Categories
Sculpture
Religion
Christianity
Access_to_Images 2003
Object type
Figure
TitleKneeling Angel (generic title)
Materials and techniques
White enamelled terracotta
Brief description
Figure, white enamelled terracotta, A Kneeling Angel, Giovanni della Robbia, Italy (Florence), late 15th century to early 16th century
Physical description
A kneeling Angel, figure in white enamelled terracotta. The angel, which forms a pair with 7614-1861, is represented turned to the right and kneeling on the right knee, in a tunic or alb covered by a heavy cloak. The hair is dressed in curls and falls in locks on both sides.

The figure is more extensively damaged than 7614-1861, and has sustained two major diagonal breaks. The hair in the left centre of the forehead has been made up. The back is hollow and not finished off.
Dimensions
  • Height: 81.9cm
  • Width: 65cm
  • Depth: 30cm
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Gallery label
7615-1861 Kneeling Angel White enamelled terracotta Workshop of della Robbia (1460s-1529/30) Florentine; late 15th or early 16th century This angel and its companion (displayed nearby) formed part of a larger group or altarpiece, the missing hands and knees being included in the adjoining relief (now lost). They are closely related to the early works of Giovanni, such as a lavabo in Santa Maria Novella, Florence (1497).(2004)
Object history
See 7614-1861

Historical significance: See 7614-1861
Historical context
See 7614-1861
Subjects depicted
Angels
Robes
Summary
This angel forms a pair with the angel 7614-1861. They are tin-glaze terracotta made by a member of the della Robbia family, possibly Andrea or his son Giovanni. They may have formed part of a larger relief, as their hands and knees are missing.

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. Family members were traditionally employed in the textile industry, and their name derives from rubia tinctorum, a red dye.
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.
Associated object
7614-1861 (Set)
Bibliographic references
  • Migliarini, M. Museo di sculture del Risorgimento raccolto e posseduto da Ottavio Gigli, Florence, 1858, plates 52 and 53.
  • Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1861 In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 13
  • Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, p. 51
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume I: Text. Eighth to Fifteenth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, p. 232
  • Gentilini, Giancarlo. ed. I Della Robbia, La Scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento. Florence: 1992, illus. p. 213 + illus
  • Robinson, J. C., Italian sculpture of the Middle Ages and the period of the revival of art: a descriptive catalogue of the works forming the above section of the South Kensington Museum, London, 1862, p.66.
  • Cavalllucci, C. J. and Molinier, E. Les della Robbia, leur vie et leur oeuvre, d'apres des documents inedits, suivi d'un catalogue de l'oeuvre des Della Robbia in Italie et dans les principaux musees de l'EuropeParis, 1884,p.76, 267, no.383.
  • Marquand, A. Andrea della Robbia and his Atelier,vol. ii, Princeton, 1922, fig.144
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
7615-1861

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16229/kneeling-angel-figure-robbia-andrea-della/
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