running a highly pro¿ table business. Luca’s work in stone sculpture is less
well known but is proof of his artistic genius.
We will look at his most famous achievement, his Cantoria (c. 1431–1438),
or “singing gallery,” produced for the Florence Cathedral. This is a marble
choir gallery, 17 feet wide, that was located over the door to the left-hand
sacristy in the cathedral. Singers and instrumentalists performed from this
elegant perch. The decoration consists of 10 panels depicting children as
musical genies. Our example shows eight square panels in two levels on the
front, and one rectangular panel on each end. The front panels are separated
by pilasters above and brackets below, and on three horizontal bands is
inscribed Psalm 150, “Praise ye the Lord.../Praise him with the timbrel and
dance:/Praise him with stringed instruments and organs./Praise him upon
the loud cymbals./Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.” Luca’s
work depicts young instrumentalists, trumpeters, with dancers singing and
cavorting below them. Note particularly the end panel—the older boys
singing in the choir whose faces Luca has observed closely. Luca renders
adolescent À esh equal to Donatello’s in the bronze David but without the
erotic undercurrent. Ŷ
Filippo Brunelleschi:
Sacri¿ ce of Isaac, 1401, gilt bronze, 21 x 17” (53.3 x 43.4 cm), Museo
Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, Italy.Luca della Robbia:
Cantoria, c. 1431–38, marble, 17’ W (5 m W), Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo, Florence, Italy.Donatello:
David, 1430s, bronze, 5’ 2 ¼” H (158 cm H), Museo Nazionale del
Bargello, Florence, Italy.
Feast of Herod, c. 1427, gilt bronze, 23 ½” square (59.7 cm square),
Baptistery, Siena, Italy.Works Discussed