Not proofread: Created page with "<section begin="s1"/>whom the design of the figures was probably taken, is theiwashings fountain in the sacristy of S. Maria Novella at Florence, made in 1497.1 It is a large..."
New page
<noinclude><pagequality level="1" user="Slowking4" /><div class="pagetext">{{rh|{{x-larger| }}|{{x-larger|{{uc|DELMEDIGO}}}}|{{x-larger|969}}}}<!-- replace "Foo" and "Bar" with the header from the page, delete and input page numbers as appropriate -->
</noinclude><section begin="s1"/>whom the design of the figures was probably taken, is theiwashings
fountain in the sacristy of S. Maria Novella at Florence, made in
1497.1 It is a large arched recess with a view of the seashore,
not very decorative in style, painted on majolica tiles at the back.
There are also two very beautiful painted majolica panels of fruit trees
let into the lower part. In the tympanum of the arch is a
very lovely white relief of the Madonna between two Adoring
Angels (see fig. 3). Long coloured garlands of fruit and flowers
are held by nude boys reclining on the top of the arch and others
{{missing image}}
FIG. 3.-Relief of Madonna and Angels in the tympanum of the
lavabo (S. Maria Novella, Florence), by Giovanni.
standing on the cornice. All this part is of enamelled clay, but
the basin of the fountain is of white marble. Neither Luca nor
Andrea was in the habit of signing his work, but Giovanni often
did so, usually adding the date, probably because other potters
had begun to imitate the Robbia ware?
Giovanni lacked the original talent of Luca and Andrea, and
so he not only copied their work but even reproduced in clay the
marble sculpture of Pollaiuolo, Da Settignano, Verrocchio and
others. A relief by him, evidently taken from Mino da Fiesole,
exists in the Palazzo Castracane Staccoli. Among the Very
numerous other works of Giovanni are a relief in the wall of a
suppressed convent in the Via Nazionale at Florence, and two
reliefs in the Bargello dated 1521 and 1522. That dated 1521 is
a many-coloured relief of the Nativity, and was taken from the
church of S. Girolamo in Florence; it is a too pictorial work,
marred by the use of many different planes. Its predella has a
small relief of the Adoration of the Magi, and is inscribed “ Hoc
opus fecit Ioaes Andee de Robia, ac a posuit hoc in tempore die
ultima lulli ANO. DN1. M.D. xx1.” At Pisa in the Campo Santo is a
relief in Giovanni's later and poorer manner dated 1520; it is a
Madonna surrounded by angels, with saints below-the whole
overcrowded with figures and ornaments. Giovanni's largest and
perhaps finest work is the polychromatic frieze on the outside of
the Del Ceppo hospital at Pistoia, for which he received various
sums of money between 1 525 and 1529, as is recorded in documents
which still exist among the archives of the hospital.” The subjects
of this frieze are the Seven Work: of Mercy, forming a continuous
band of sculpture in high relief, well modelled and designed in a
very broad sculpturesque way, but disfigured by the crudeness
of some of its colouring. Six of these reliefs are by Giovanni,
namely, Clothing the Naked, Washing the Feet of Pilgrims,
1 See a document printed by Milanesi in his Vasari, ii. 193.
2 Examples of these imitations are a retable in S. Lucchese near
Poggibonsi dated 1514, another of the Madonna and Saints at Monte
San Savino of 1525, and a third in the Capuchin church of Arceria
near Sinigaglia; they are all inferior to the best works of the Robbia
family, though some of them may have been made by assistants
trained in the Robbia workshops.
3 The hospital itself was begun in IS14.
Visiting the Sick, Visiting Prisoners, Burying' the Dead, and
Feeding the Hungry. The seventh, Giving drink to the Thirsty,
was made by Filippo Paladini of Pistoia in 1585; this last is
simply made of painted stucco. The large figures of the virtues
placed between the scenes, and the medallions between the
pillars, are the Work of assistants or imitators.
A large octagonal font of enamelled clay, with pilasters at the
angles and panels between them with scenes from the life of the
Baptist, in the church of S. Leonardo at Cerreto Guidi, is a work
of the school of Giovanni; the reliefs are pictorial in style and
coarse in execution. Giovanni's chief pupil was a man named
Benedetto Buglioni (1461-1521), and a/pupil of his, one Santi
Buglioni (b. 1494), entered the Robbia workshops in 1521, and
assisted in the later works of Giovanni.
VII. GIROLAMO DELLA ROBBIA (1488-1566), another of
Andrea's sons, was an architect and a sculptor in marble and
bronze as well as in enamelled clay. During the first part of his
life he, like his brothers, worked with his father, but in 1528 he
went to France and spent nearly forty years in the service of the
French Royal family. Francis I. employed him to build a palace
in the Bois de Boulogne called the Chateau de Madrid. This was
a large well-designed building, four storeys high, two of them
having open loggie in the Italian fashion. Girolamo decorated
it richly with terra-cotta medallions, friezes and other architectural
features! For this purpose he set up kilns at Suresnes.
Though the palace itself 'has been destroyed, drawings of it
exist?
The best collections of Robbia ware are in the Florentine
Bargello, Accademia and Museo del Duomo; the Victoria and
Albert Museum (the finest out of Italy); the Louvre, the
Cluny and the Berlin Museums; while fine examples are to be
found in New York, Boston, St Petersburg and Vienna. Many
fine specimens exist in private collections in England, France,
Germany and the United States. The greater part of the Robbia
work still remains in the churches and other buildings of Italy,
especially in Florence, Fiesole, Arezzo, La Verna, Volterra,
Barga, Montepulciano, Lucca, Pistoia, Prato and Siena.
LITERATURE.-H. Barber de ]ouy, Les della Robbia (Paris, 1855);
W. Bode, Die Kunstlerfarnilie della Robbia (Leipzig, 1878); “ Luca
della Robbia ed i suoi precursory in Firenze, " Arch. star. dell' arte
(1899); “ Uber Luca della Robbia, ” Sitzungsbericht von der Berliner
kunstgeschichtlichen Gesellschaft (1896); Florentiner Bildhauer der
Renaissance (Berlin, 1902); G. Carocci, I Dintorni de Firenze
(Florence, 1881); “ ll Monumento di Benozzo Federighi, " Arte e
Storia (1394): “ Opere Robbiane poco noti, " Arte e storia (ISQ8,
1899); Cavallucci et Molinier, Les della Robbia (Paris, 1884);
Maud Crutwell, Luca and Andrea della Robbia and their Successors
(London, IQOZ); A. du Cerceau, Les plus excellent bastiments
de France (Paris, 1586); G. Milanesi, Le Vite scritte da Vasari
(Florence, 1878); M. Reymond, Les della Robbia (Florence, 1897);
La Sculpture Florentine (Florence, 1898); I. B. Supino, Catalogo
del R. Museo di Firenze (Rome 1898); Vasari (see Milanesi's
edition). (J. H. M.; W. B.*)
<section end="s1"/>
<section begin="Delmedigo"/>'''DELMEDIGO,''' a Cretan Jewish family, of whom the following
are the most important:
ELIJAH DELMEDIGO (1460-1497), philosopher, taught in several
Italian centres of learning. He translated some of Averroes
commentaries into Latin at the instigation of Pico di Mirandola.
In the sphere of religion, Delmedigo represents the tendency
to depart from the scholastic attitude in which religion and
philosophy were identified. His most important work was
devoted to this end; it was entitled Behinath ha-Dath (Investigation
of Religion).
]osEPH SOLOMON DELMEDIGO (1591-1655), pupil of Galileo,
wrote many books on science and philosophy, and bore a considerable
part in initiating the critical movement in Iudaism.
He belonged to the sceptical school, and though his positive
contributions to literature 'were not of lasting Worth, Graetz
includes him among the important formative influences within
the synagogue of the 17th century. (I. A.)
4The Sevres Museum possesses some fragments of these de-co rations.
5 See Laborde, Chdteau de Madrid (Paris, 1853), and Comptes des
bdtiments du roi (Paris, 1877-1880), in which a full account is given
of Girolamo's work in connexion with this palace., ,-
<section end="Delmedigo"/><noinclude><references/></div></noinclude>