Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Tuscany

Permanent URI for this collection

Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Tuscany is an open-access database of high-resolution photographs of and information about over 350 objects. All photographs are freely available for download and use in research, teaching, and publication. An interactive digital map shows the current location of each object. The platform is Queen’s University’s permanent digital archive, QSpace.

Collaboration

Una D’Elia (professor, Queen’s University), Heather Merla (PhD 2018, Queen’s University), Rachel Boyd (PhD 2020, Columbia University), and Bronwyn Bond (PhD candidate, Queen's University) created the database, working in collaboration with a team of librarians at Queen’s University led by Rosarie Coughlin. The team researched and discussed fields for organizing the information, mapping, platforms for virtual exhibitions, and best practices for carrying out research and publishing the collection. We are more than happy to share what we learned – if you would like more information about how this database was constructed, please contact Una D’Elia (deliau@queensu.ca).

Virtual Exhibitions

Because this database includes thousands of high-resolution photographs for research and publication, and because entries for each object synthesize previous scholarship, including conservation reports, making this information available to English-speaking audiences, the database can be used in undergraduate and graduate courses, and the students can publish their research in the form of online virtual exhibitions. For more information on using the database for teaching, please contact Una D'Elia (deliau@queensu.ca). Students in undergraduate and graduate classes at Queen’s have used the database to create exhibitions:

Cultural Itineraries

These cultural itineraries of selected objects from the database, created by Maddison Andrews (MA candidate, Queen's University) and Julia Ranney (MA candidate, Queen's University), include a wealth of historical information as well as practical details to plan a trip. When travel is not possible, the itineraries offers rich virtual tours:

Renaissance Polychrome Sculpture in Other Regions

This database is a part of a larger project to offer information about and high-resolution images of Renaissance polychrome sculpture in different regions of Italy. Two other databases are already published:

A database of polychrome sculptures in Sicily is in progress, and other regions will follow.

Map

The interactive map, created by Claire Litt (ABD, Queen’s University), colour-coded by material, shows the current locations for each sculpture, with links to each object page in the database.

Support

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Queen’s University Libraries, and the Department of Art History and Art Conservation at Queen’s University, without which this project would not have been possible.

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about the database, its construction, or its uses in teaching, research, and publication, or if you would like to contribute information and/or photographs, please contact Una D’Elia (deliau@queensu.ca).

Using the Images

Photographs of sculptures in this collection are freely available for teaching, research, and publication.

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 5 of 380
  • Item
    Sacraments (reliefs from the north side of the Campanile, Florence Cathedral)
    Andrea Pisano and workshop
    When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano became capomaestro for the unfinished Campanile (bell tower) beside the Florence Cathedral. Andrea and his workshop produced a comprehensive program of over fifty marble relief sculptures divided into two registers around the building's four exterior walls. Hexagon-shaped panels carved from marble decorated the lower register, while the upper register displayed diamond-shaped marble panels complete with a blue maiolica background, some of which are shown here. These reliefs come from the north wall and depict six of the seven sacraments: Baptism, Reconciliation, Matrimony, Confirmation, Eucharist, and Extreme Unction/ Anointing of the Sick. The missing sacrament, Holy Orders, has survived as only a small fragment. Each scene merges traditional Gothic elements (geometric shapes, stiff drapery) with classicism (naturalistic bodies and postures), similar to the panels originally placed below depicting scenes of the liberal arts. Scholars believe that Andrea's use of ceramic and blue and white colour scheme was a source of inspiration for Luca della Robbia, who used this aesthetic with his pioneering technique of glazed terracotta in the fifteenth century. However, unlike the della Robbia's, who used a cobalt-oxide based blue to achieve a multitude of tones, Andrea probably used here a copper-sulfate to achieve a single saturated blue. Today, Andrea's reliefs are displayed at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and arranged in the order in which they were once displayed. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  • Item
    Medieval studies (reliefs from the east side of the Campanile, Florence Cathedral)
    Andrea Pisano and workshop
    When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano became capomaestro for the unfinished Campanile (bell tower) beside the Florence Cathedral. Andrea and his workshop produced a comprehensive program of over fifty marble relief sculptures divided into two registers around the building's four exterior walls. Hexagon-shaped panels carved from marble decorated the lower register, while the upper register displayed diamond-shaped marble panels complete with a blue maiolica background, some of which are shown here. These reliefs come from the east wall and depict common medieval studies: Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, and Arithmetic. Each scene merges traditional Gothic elements (geometric shapes, stiff drapery) with classicism (naturalistic bodies and postures), similar to the panels originally placed below them depicting scenes of the human trades. Scholars believe that Andrea's use of ceramic and a blue and white colour scheme was a source of inspiration for Luca della Robbia, who used this aesthetic with his pioneering technique of glazed terracotta in the fifteenth century. However, unlike the della Robbia's, who used a cobalt-oxide based blue to achieve a multitude of tones, Andrea probably used here a copper-sulfate to achieve a single saturated blue. Today, Andrea's reliefs are displayed at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and arranged in the order in which they were once displayed. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  • Item
    Theological and Cardinal Virtues (reliefs from the south side of the Campanile, Florence Cathedral)
    Andrea Pisano and workshop
    When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano became capomaestro for the unfinished Campanile (bell tower) beside the Florence Cathedral. Andrea and his workshop produced a comprehensive program of over fifty marble relief sculptures divided into two registers around the building's four exterior walls. Hexagon-shaped panels carved from marble decorated the lower register, while the upper register displayed diamond-shaped marble panels complete with a blue maiolica background, some of which are shown here. These reliefs come from the south wall and depict personifications of the Theological and Cardinal Virtues: Faith, Charity, Hope, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. Each scene merges traditional Gothic elements (geometric shapes, stiff drapery) with classicism (naturalistic bodies and postures) similar to the panels originally placed below them depicting scenes of the human trades. Scholars believe that Andrea's use of ceramic and a blue and white colour scheme was a source of inspiration for Luca della Robbia, who used this aesthetic with his pioneering technique of glazed terracotta in the fifteenth century. However, unlike the della Robbia's, who used a cobalt-oxide based blue to achieve a multitude of tones, Andrea probably used here a copper-sulfate to achieve a single saturated blue. Today, Andrea's reliefs are displayed at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and arranged in the order in which they were once displayed. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  • Item
    Planets (reliefs from the west side of the Campanile, Florence Cathedral)
    Andrea Pisano and workshop
    When Giotto died in 1337, Andrea Pisano became capomaestro for the unfinished Campanile (bell tower) beside the Florence Cathedral. Andrea and his workshop produced a comprehensive program of over fifty marble relief sculptures divided into two registers around the building's four exterior walls. Hexagon-shaped panels carved from marble decorated the lower register, while the upper register displayed diamond-shaped marble panels complete with a blue maiolica background, some of which are shown here. These reliefs come from the west wall and depict personifications of the classical planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun as God Apollo, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Each scene merges Gothic elements (geometric shapes, stiff drapery) with classicism (naturalistic bodies and postures), similar to the panels originally placed below them depicting the human labours. Scholars believe that Andrea's use of ceramic and a blue and white colour scheme was a source of inspiration for Luca della Robbia, who used this aesthetic with his pioneering technique of glazed terracotta in the fifteenth century. However, unlike the della Robbia's who used a cobalt-oxide based blue to achieve a multitude of tones, Pisano probably used here a copper-sulfate to achieve a single saturated blue. Today, Pisano's reliefs are displayed at the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo and arranged in the order in which they were once displayed. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  • Item
    Madonna and Child with Angels
    Andrea della Robbia
    Andrea della Robbia was paid twenty gold florins (about the cost of 7000 eggs at the time) to make this glazed terracotta lunette that was finished in 1489. It was made for the Residenza dell'Opera in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The della Robbia family workshop -- the so-called inventors of glazed terracotta -- made several lunettes of the Madonna and Child with angels, as depicted here, or with saints to surmount the exterior doors of churches. Andrea experimented sometimes with a broad colour palette, but here he used the signature blue and white colour scheme devised by the workshop's founder, his uncle Luca della Robbia. The majority of sculptures made by the della Robbia workshop remain in excellent condition, but there appears to be damage to the blue glaze in this relief. Today, the sculpture is displayed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.