Incorruptible Nature: The Della Robbia Frames in the Marche

Abstract

The present study focuses on the Della Robbia frames created for the altarpieces in the Marche – a largely understudied region of the Italian peninsula. It proposes that the frames of the Marchigian altarpieces were instrumental in establishing the fame of the Florentine artists in the region. Two Della Robbia brothers, both Dominican friars, Fra Mattia (1468– after c. 1532) and Fra Ambrogio (1477–1528), moved to the Marche in the mid-1520s and established a workshop in Monte Santo – present-day Potenza Picena. Whilst the local frames of the Della Robbia altarpieces are invariably covered with coloured vitreous paste, the central scenes are often largely painted in cold polychromy. This artistic choice, likely spurred by technical constraints, meant that fruits, vases with flowers and lions’ heads included in the frames had the potential of capturing the viewer’s attention in a more immediate way than the religious images they encompassed. Furthermore, through the agency of the innovative medium of glazed terracotta and the naturalistic repertoire of motifs, the frames both structured the devotional experience and testified to the endurance of the Della Robbia sculptures. In many instances sections of the glazed frames survived intact to our times whilst the elements modelled in unglazed terracotta had been irretrievably lost or severely damaged. Moreover, as the glazed frames made wide use of the realistic vegetal motifs and of blue and white – the signature colours of the Della Robbia ware – they became the trademark of the workshop in the Marche. From the 1530s, thanks to the use of the moulds, the glazed frames constituted the most accomplished components of the terracotta altarpieces created by anonymous local artisans active in the region after the death of the Della Robbia brothers.