Robbia, LUCA DELLA, sculptor and modeller of figures in relief, was born at Florence in 1399 or 1400, worked all his life there, and died there on 20th February 1482. He designed and executed between 1431 and 1440 ten panels of Angels and Dancing Boys for the cathedral, which Professor J. H. Middleton calls one of the greatest pieces of sculptured work in the 15th century. Another great work by him was a bronze door, with ten panels of figures in relief, for the sacristy of the cathedral, made between 1448 and 1467. In marble he sculptured, in 1457-58, the tomb of Federighi, Bishop of Fiesole (now in the church of San Francesco outside the city). The frame that surrounds this monument is made of exquisitely painted majolica tiles. His name is closely associated with the production of figures in glazed or enamelled terra-cotta, made by a process which, though he did not invent it, he yet perfected greatly. Amongst the works he executed by this process are numerous medallions, some white, some polychrome, and reliefs.—His principal pupil was his nephew ANDREA (1435-1525), who worked chiefly at the production of enamelled reliefs, retables, and medallions, these last for the most part reproductions of the Madonna and Child. Nearly all his works were of religious subjects; they were made chiefly for Florence, Arezzo, and Prato.—His son GIOVANNI (1469-1529?) continued the activity of the family in this style of work; his best productions are the frieze, representing the Seven Works of Mercy, outside a hospital at Pistoja, and a fountain in the sacristy of St Maria Novella in Florence.
See Cavallucci and Molinier, Les Della Robbia, leur Vie et leur Œuvre (1884); Leader Scott, Luca della Robbia (in the 'Great Artists' series, 1883—to be used with caution); and M. Reymond, Les Della Robbia (Florence, 1897).