Della Robbia Workshop - Mid-15th Century - Bas-relief In Polychrome And Gilded Stucco

Della Robbia Workshop - Mid-15th century - Polychrome and gilded stucco bas-relief - Madonna and Child among 6 Angels.
A splendid bas-relief in polychrome and gilded stucco depicting the Virgin and Child surrounded by a choir of six angels.
Mary is depicted seated on a throne of clouds, rendered in slight relief, holding the Child in her arms; the Child displays a lively tenderness toward his Mother, who embraces him with both arms.
On either side, symmetrically arranged, six angels glorify the Sacred Conversation: in this regard, the detail of the two angels on the left conversing with one another is particularly striking, making the scene even more mystical, vivid, and profound.
Our relief, which still retains large portions of its original polychromy and gilding, with scattered paint reinforcements and retouches, is based on the famous terracotta model in the Louvre (inv. CAMP7), created by Luca della Robbia and dating from between 1427 and 1430, the first in a long and successful series of highly prized devotional objects.
As evidence of this model’s widespread popularity, there are examples in the finest collections (the Getty and the V&A, to name two), primarily of circular shape.
Our model, square in shape like the Louvre’s terracotta, can be placed in a slightly later phase, as the spread of the early terracotta models and their widespread popularity soon led to increased production of stucco models, primarily intended for recessing into walls or for use in wooden tabernacles.
The back of the bas-relief, in fact, is extremely rough and unpolished, designed to provide a better grip in the cement mortar of the wall—though it was never actually installed there.
The work is accompanied by an expert report prepared by Prof. Alessandro Delpriori.
Dimensions: 35x34 cm