Good Friday Glazed Terracotta Challenge

Today it’s Good Friday, so let’s try to look at the art and fashion connection using a religious subject.

This image shows “The Lamentation over the Dead Christ”, a relief group attributed to the workshop of Andrea Della Robbia that you can admire on the ground floor of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The group shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead Christ between St. Mary Magdalene and St. John.

The blue and white terracotta piece, dated around the 15th century, was probably one of the panels of the predella of a large altar piece.

Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) descended from the Della Robbias, traditionally a family of sculptors and potters.

Luca Della Robbia founded the family sculpture workshop in Florence and was regarded by contemporaries as a leading artistic innovator, comparable to Donatello and Masaccio.

The Della Robbia dynasty was linked with the textile industry as well since their name derived from the Latin “rubia tinctorum”, indicating a red dye used for textiles.

Luca Della Robbia is credited with the invention of the technique of enamelled terracotta that made his creations more durable in the outdoors and thus suitable for use on the exterior of buildings. Andrea then modified and developed Luca's techniques.

The technique – consisting in applying a stanniferous enamel used for majolica to the monumental sculpture – was mainly employed in the Mediterranean area since the 14th century because of Arab expansion.

The contrasts created by the azure used for the Virgin Mary's cloak and for St John's tunic and the muted colours characterising other figures is particularly beautiful in this group.

Terracotta groups of this scale were actually rather difficult to make since the figures had to be constructed separately.

Large-scale works were cut into smaller parts with a copper wire, and the cuts were hidden along the edges of the clothes. After firing, the pieces were reassembled: in the case of very large statues and groups, a system of interlocking pieces was devised using wood hinges.

There is currently an exhibition entitled “A Bit of Clay on the Skin: New Ceramic Jewelry" at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (on until September 2011).

The event explores the appeal of ceramics, especially porcelain, in jewellery and features 18 jewellery artists, among them also Peter Hoogeboom, Evert Nijland, Ted Noten, Gésine Hackenberg, Marie Pendariès (the last image in this post shows Pendariès' 2008 "The Dowry") and Shu-Lin Wu.

There are quite a few artists who have been reusing ceramics to create exclusive pieces of jewellery and I've been wondering if techniques like the Greeks and Romans' gilded terracotta in imitation of gold or Della Robbia's glazed terracotta techniques may be successfully applied to fashion design. Anybody keen on taking up the challenge?

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

http://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.80.15.js?boxxetId=u23036

Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos

http://www.boxxet.com/my/badgeBN.160.30.js?boxxetId=u23036

Add to Technorati Favorites