Relief of the Foundling hospital in Florence

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The Little Boy One of Andrea's most remarkable works is the series of medallions with reliefs of the Infant Jesus in white on a blue ground set on the front of the foundling hospital in Florence. These child-figures are modelled with skill and variety, no two being alike. Who Is Depicted? We can see a little boy, but we don't know who he is. We can deduce that it's a little boy who has been cured in the hospital. Technical/Specification About the Statue Relief is a sculptural technique where the sculpted elements remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term relief comes from the Latin verb relevo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane. What Happens When a Relief Is Cut? When a relief is cut into a flat surface of stone or wood, it involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject and is less fragile than a sculpture in the round. Degrees of Relief There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the sculpted form from the field. The full range includes high relief, mid-relief, low-relief, and shallow-relief or rilievo schiacciato. More About the Artist Andrea della Robbia was an Italian Renaissance sculptor who worked extensively in ceramics. He carried on the production of enamelled reliefs on a much larger scale than his uncle had ever done. Andrea also extended its application to various architectural uses, such as friezes and making lavabos, fountains, and large retables. Andrea's Method Sometimes Andrea omitted the enamel on the face and hands of his figures, especially in those cases where he had treated the heads in a realistic manner. As an example, look at the tympanum relief of the meeting of St Domenic and St Francis in the loggia of the Florentine hospital of San Paolo, a design suggested by a fresco of Fra Angelico's in the cloister of St Mark's.