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Figure - Boy playing the bagpipes
  • Boy playing the bagpipes
    Andrea della Robbia, born 1435 - died 1525
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Boy playing the bagpipes

  • Object:

    Figure

  • Place of origin:

    Florence, Italy (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1490-1520 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Andrea della Robbia, born 1435 - died 1525 (maker)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Polychrome enamelled terracotta

  • Credit Line:

    Given by HRH the Prince Consort

  • Museum number:

    4677-1858

  • Gallery location:

    World Ceramics, room 145, case 48

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This small statue of a naked boy playing the bagpipes was probably originally part of an altarpiece. This exquisitely modelled life-size figure is attributed to Andrea della Robbia, a member of a famous Florentine family of sculptors. Several large altarpieces by the Della Robbia family show similar naked boys - some of them with musical instruments - high up on the architectural framework. It is stylistically close to two winged putti on the cornice of an altarpiece supplied by Andrea della Robbia to the Church of the Santi Apostoli in Florence in 1512.

Trained as a marble sculptor in the studio of his uncle Luca, Andrea della Robbia also became an excellent modeller, unrivalled in his ability to capture the life of his subjects in glazed clay. His best-known works are 10 roundels of infants on the façade of Florence's Foundling Hospital (about 1487).

Physical description

The seated boy is shown naked with the bag on his left thigh. He fingers the chanter with both hands and holds the mouthpiece in his mouth.

Place of Origin

Florence, Italy (made)

Date

ca. 1490-1520 (made)

Artist/maker

Andrea della Robbia, born 1435 - died 1525 (maker)

Materials and Techniques

Polychrome enamelled terracotta

Dimensions

Height: 46.2 cm, Weight: 8.87 kg with old wooden plinth attached, Width: 34 cm

Descriptive line

Figure of a boy playing the bagpipes by Andrea della Robbia, Florence, about 1490-1520

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1858. 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. 8.
Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, pp. 51,52
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, pp. 215, 216.
Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young eds. Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum London: V&A Publishing, 2008. p. 62-63

Materials

Terracotta

Techniques

Enamelling

Subjects depicted

Cupid; Boy; Child; Musical instruments; Bagpipe

Categories

Sculpture; Earthenware

Collection code

SCP

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Qr_O16278
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