Around the early 1440s, Luca della Robbia developed a durable, brightly colored tin-glazed terracotta technique that became the basis for a thriving Florentine family workshop producing reliefs, figures, and architectural ceramics.
A major early, documented commission for fully glazed polychrome terracotta: the Resurrection lunette over the north sacristy door of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral). It demonstrated the new medium’s suitability for prominent architectural settings.
The Resurrection lunette (1442–1445) was executed in glazed and polychromed terracotta and placed above the north sacristy entrance, helping establish glazed terracotta as a durable, visually striking alternative to marble for church decoration.
As a pendant to the Resurrection, Luca produced the Ascension lunette for the cathedral’s south sacristy door (Sacristy of the Canons). The pair anchored the Della Robbia medium to Florence’s most important ecclesiastical site.
The Chapel of the Crucifix (designed by Michelozzo and completed in 1448) at San Miniato al Monte incorporated glazed terracotta vault/ceiling decoration by Luca della Robbia—an influential example of the medium integrated into Florentine architectural interiors.
The Ascension lunette was completed in glazed terracotta by 1451, reinforcing the workshop’s capacity for large-scale architectural reliefs intended for long-term public display.
By around 1470, Luca’s nephew Andrea della Robbia had taken over running the family workshop, enabling expansion in scale and a broader, more decorative and pictorial approach within the established glazed terracotta tradition.
Andrea della Robbia’s ten glazed terracotta Putti in fasce (swaddled infants) were installed in 1487 on Brunelleschi’s loggia façade at the Ospedale degli Innocenti, making Della Robbia ceramics a highly visible symbol of Florentine civic charity.
Giovanni della Robbia (Andrea’s son) is documented working in the family workshop from 1487, marking the start of a third generation actively producing and evolving glazed terracotta sculpture before 1500.
Giovanni collaborated with or worked under Andrea on the glazed terracotta medallions for the Loggia di San Paolo (1490–1495), reflecting the workshop’s ability to supply large civic decorative programs in repeatable architectural formats.
By 1495, the Loggia di San Paolo medallions were complete, illustrating how the Della Robbia workshop’s glazed terracotta—often modular and suited to serial execution—had become embedded in Florence’s public visual culture.
Giovanni della Robbia completed a glazed terracotta lavabo in the sacristy of Santa Maria Novella in 1498 (often cited as his first documented work), exemplifying the late-15th-century workshop’s ornate, pictorial direction while maintaining the durable glazed medium.
Della Robbia Workshop: Glazed Terracotta Production in Florence (c. 1440–1500)
