Federica Carta’s dissertation investigates the architectural production of Luca and Andrea della Robbia (1440 ca.-1500 ca.), centering on their innovative use of glazed terracotta as a medium that bridged technical innovation, aesthetic experimentation, and cultural significance. Combining material history, formal analysis, and the social history of art, this study uncovers a neglected yet high relevant dimension of the Della Robbia workshop’s production.

The thesis first examines the materiality and technical execution of glazed terracotta, a foundation for grasping its aesthetic and symbolic potential. Collaborations with material scientists, restorers, and thanks to an access to major Florentine restoration sites have yielded new insights into the medium’s constraints and expressive possibilities.

Ornament emerges as a key analytical lens to reinterpret Luca’s dialogue with antique, medieval, and contemporary sources. The research demonstrates the pivotal role of Florentine medieval precedents in shaping patterns later adopted by Andrea della Robbia and his sons. 

A focus on large-scale architectural decorations by Luca and Andrea reveals their collaborative dynamics, the expectations of patrons, and the material’s mimetic versatility. Comparative analysis with theoretical treatises, such as Filarete’s Trattato di Architettura and Alberti’s De Re Aedificatoria, contextualizes the cultural values of glazed terracotta and the invention of ornamental motifs. The study further traces the transmission of patterns across three generations, from monumental contexts to smaller-scale applications, as the altarpieces, illustrating how motifs evolved in response to changing artistic and devotional needs.

Federica Carta is researcher at the Institute for Art History (Fachgebiet Kunstgeschichte der Vormoderne mit dem Schwerpunkt Materialität) at the TU-Berlin since April 2025. She received her PhD from the Universities of Amiens and Perugia in 2022, with a thesis titled “Lux in fabrica – the architectural decoration in glazed terracotta by Luca and Andrea della Robbia (1440 c.-1500 c.), awarded with the INHA thesis prize in June 2023. She was a Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022–23, and lecturer in early modern art history at the Sorbonne University until March 2025.  She published the catalogue of Della Robbia sculptures from the Musée National de la Renaissance, and various articles and essays on Della Robbia and on Florentine Renaissance Art, and she is guest-curator of the exhibition Rediscovering Della Robbia at the Met, that will open next August at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.