The National Gallery of Art in Washington is holding an exhibition, titled “Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence” to celebrate three generations of the Della Robbia family and their contemporaries. Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482) was a master sculptor in marble and bronze who invented a glazing technique for terracotta sculpture that positioned him as one of the most innovative artists of the 15th century.

Today, the sculptures created by Luca and his family workshop retain their brilliant opaque whites, deep cerulean blues and botanical greens, purples and yellows over modelling that makes them powerful and engaging examples of Italian Renaissance art. Resistant to weather and easily readable at a distance, Della Robbia works were widely collected in the late 19th and early 20th century by Americans travelling to Italy who sought to bring something of the Renaissance home.