The Florentine sculptor Luca della Robbia (ca. 1399-1482) is usually remembered for his singularly lovely images of the Madonna and Child in glazed terra-cotta.

Luca della Robbia was praised by his compatriot Leon Battista Alberti for genius comparable to that of the sculptors Donatello and Lorenzo Ghiberti, the architect Filippo Brunelleschi, and the painter Masaccio. By ranking him with contemporary artists of this stature, Alberti reminds us of the interest and strength of Luca's work in marble and bronze, as well as in the terra-cottas always associated with his name.

There are no certain details of Luca della Robbia's youth, training, or early sculpture, and many of his most popular later works cannot be dated absolutely. He was born in Florence. His first documented commission, the marble Singing Gallery (1431-1438) for the Cathedral of Florence, proves that he must have been an accomplished artist long before joining the...