The master, meanwhile, was not satisfied with his remarkable, useful, and charming invention, which is more particularly valuable for places liable to damp, or unsuited, from other causes, for paintings, but still continued seeking something more; and, instead of making his terra-cotta figures simply white, he added the further invention of giving them colour, to the astonishment and delight of all who beheld them. Among the first who gave Luca della Robbia commissions to execute works of this description, was the magnificent Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici, who caused him to decorate a small study, built by his father Cosmo, in his palace, with figures in this coloured “terra.” The ceiling of the study is a half circle; and here, as well as for the pavement, Luca executed various devices, which was a singular, and, for summer time, very convenient mode of decorating a pavement. And it is certainly much to be admired, that, although this work was then extremely difficult, numberless precautions and great knowledge being required in the burning of the clay, yet Luca completed the whole with such perfect success, that the ornaments both of the ceiling and pavement appear to be made, not of many pieces, but of one only.[1] The fame of these works having spread, not only throughout Italy, but over all Europe, there were so many persons desirous of possessing them, that the Florentine merchants kept Luca della Robbia continually at this labour, to his great profit: they then dispatched the products all over the world. And now the master himself could no longer supply the numbers required; he therefore took his brothers, Ottaviano and Agostino[2] from the chisel, and set them to these works, from which both he and they gained much more than they had previously been able to earn by their works in sculpture: for, to say nothing of the commissions which they
- ↑ Vasari had doubtless seen the manuscript, Trattato d’Architettura, of Rilarete (whose life will follow), which is in the Magliabechiana library. It has the following passage:—“His little study (Cosmo’s), excessively small it is, has the ceiling and pavement adorned with most beautiful glazed figures, so that all who enter are struck with admiration. The master of these invetriamenti, was Luca della Robbia, so he was called by name, who is a most worthy master of these works, and also in sculpture has proved himself,” etc.
- ↑ These artists were brothers to each other, but not to Luca della Robbia, nor did they even belong to his family.
