Getty Buys a della Robbia Rediscovery

Andrea della Robbia, Saint Anthony the Abbot, about 1510-1515. Getty Museum

A Renaissance-style ceramic sculpture that was auctioned for a pittance in 2008 has been acquired by the Getty Museum as an original work by Andrea della Robbia. The life-size glazed terracotta figure of Saint Anthony the Abbot was part of the Lichtenstein Princely Collections for nearly a century before it was auctioned as an early 20th-century pastiche. Estimated at a mere 2000–3000 euros, it realized 42,250 euros at Christie's. The buyer was Milanese art appraiser/dealer Georgio Baratti. He sold the sculpture to Moretti Fine Art, London, which sold it to the Getty. Along the way its attribution has been drastically upgraded.

Saint Anthony the Abbot promises to be the Getty's only work by Andrea della Robbia. With its dimensionality, scale (52-3/4 in. by 34-5/8 in.), and unusual color palette, it appears to be unique in U.S. museum collections. 

Andrea della Robbia (1425-1525) was the nexus of an artistic dynasty founded by his brilliant uncle, Luca della Robbia. Luca was already acclaimed for his work in marble when he devised a method for creating brilliant white and blue glazes for terracotta sculptures. At the time, sculptures were often painted, but the paint wore off quickly. Luca's method created colorful reliefs durable enough for architectural exteriors and easier to create and transport than marbles or bronzes. Vasari wrote that the new medium allowed "every aquatic and damp place to be aggrandized with beauty and without much expense." 

Nephew Andrea assisted Luca and took over the studio at his uncle's 1482 death, inheriting his secret glaze recipes. Andrea expanded the scope of glazed terracotta works produced, becoming famous across much of Europe. He remained artistically active nearly to his death at age 90. A stooped figure of Andrea with a cane appears in a 1510 fresco by Andrea del Sarto, Miraculous Cure by Relics of Saint Philip Benizi. 

Andrea del Sarto, portrait of Andrea della Robbia (small detail) in Miraculous Cure of Relics of Saint Philip Benizi, 1510. Santissima Annunziata, Florence

Andrea would have been about that age when he made Saint Anthony the Abbot. Fired in four pieces, the high-relief figure was probably intended for the wall of a church or hospital, well above eye level. In contrast to the blue and white palette most often associated with the della Robbia family, it incorporates a light tan flesh tone, large areas of black and ochre, and a faux-porphyry seat. Saint Anthony's companion, an under-sized pig, peeks from behind his robe.

Pig in Saint Anthony the Abbot

Andrea's sons Girolamo and Giovanni continued to produce glazed terracotta sculpture until the medium fell out favor in the mid 1500s. (The Getty has a Bust of a Man by Girolamo.) It wasn't until the Victorian age that John Ruskin and Walter Pater rediscovered the della Robbias, followed by acquisitive American millionaires. In 1947 William Randolph Hearst bought a large, spectacular Annunciation by Andrea for the Los Angeles County Museum. The relief figures are free of background. (It's hard to say how that will work against Zumthor's gray concrete.)

Andrea della Robbia, Virgin of the Annunciation and Archangel Gabriel, about 1465. LACMA

When Norton Simon bought the stock of Duveen's, he acquired a damaged roundel ascribed to Luca della Robbia. Some thought it was modern, but a 2012 thermoluminescence study dated the relief to the mid 1400s. The technique can tell when mineral grains were last exposed to high temperatures (i.e., fired in a kiln). I'd guess that a similar test helped establish a Renaissance date for the Saint Anthony.

Cast from a model by Luca della Robbia, Virgin and Child with Six Angels, mid 15th century. Norton Simon Museum