THE DELLA ROBBIAS - 27th February > 7th June, 2009 Museum of Medieval and Modern Art Arezzo

The exhibition on the Della Robbias is finally open: the rooms are crowded with bright, colourful, glittering works of art, expressive and almost life-size statues, loving and serene Madonnas – Madonna di Palaia, keeping tight their Holy Son, by pressing their fingers on his tender flesh – Madonna della mela del Bargello, crying Madonnas in the midst of a universal mourning – Pietà fra S. Giovanni e la Maddalena del Bargello. One can also see pilaster strips, basket full of flowers and fruit, small animals, tiles, altar-pieces, small pictures, vases, coats-of-arms… they are all glazed terracottas, “a new, useful and beautiful art” says Vasari who informs us that Luca ”used to make nearly everlasting works”. He met with great success since they were innovating, cheap, lasting, beautiful and perfectly suitable to decorate Renaissance churches and palaces; within one hundred years they spread all over Florence, Tuscany, Italy and a lot of European countries too. Andrea, Luca’s nephew, worked with him for a long time and, afterwards, all his five sons went on working in the family’s bottega: Giovanni, Marco, Francesco, Luca il Giovane e Girolamo della Robbia. Only in Arezzo province there are more than 160 glazed terracottas, which is a real museum spread throughout Casentino (Bibbiena, Castel Focognano, Santuario della Verna, Montemignaio, Poppi, Pratovecchio, Stia), Valdarno (Bucine, Cavriglia, Montevarchi, San Giovanni Valdarno, Terranuova Bracciolini), Valdichiana (Castiglion Fiorentino, Civitella in Valdichiana, Cortona, Foiano della Chiana, Lucignano, Monte S. Savino) and Valtiberina (Anghiari, Badia Tedalda, Monterchi, Pieve S. Stefano, Sansepolcro, Sestino).

I will offer all the Bed & Breakfast SoftArezzo guests a guided visit to the exhibition at the price of 50,00 euros and will charge those who are interested in both the exhibition and the terracottas in Arezzo’s monuments my usual tariff for a hd guided visit (see Tariffs).

Even in hard times beauty must be within reach!