Rediscovering Della Robbia at The Met

Saint Michael the Archangel, Andrea della Robbia
(1435-1525), ca. 1475, glazed terracotta

Before seeing the newly opened Rediscovering Della Robbia at The Met last Sunday, my encounters with the art of the Della Robbia family had been few but memorable. My first came at the Vatican in October 2025, where I saw a pair of polychrome ceramics by Andrea and Luca della Robbia in the Papal Apartments. Then, in May 2026, I encountered another work by Luca at the Met’s magnificent Raphael: Sublime Poetry exhibition. Those brief encounters made the opportunity to see the current exhibit all the more compelling.

Prudence, Andrea della Robbia (1435-
1525), ca. 1475, glazed terracotta

Around 1440, Luca perfected a secret technique for glazing terracotta, transforming humble clay into brilliantly colored sculptures of remarkable durability. Andrea and his sons Girolamo, Giovanni, and Luca the Younger continued and expanded the family tradition. The Met has now brought together works by all three generations, many rescued from decades in storage and newly conserved.

The centerpiece is the monumental Assumption of the Virgin (The Marquand Altarpiece), assembled from thirty-three components that had not been displayed for seventy years. Five centuries after they emerged from the kiln, the sculptures retain the luminous quality Renaissance admirers described as “almost eternal.”

Rediscovering Della Robbia at The Met is on view in Gallery 521 at the Met Fifth Avenue through January 17, 2028.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, August 23rd, Feast of Sant'Antonio di Gerace

Prudence is personified here as a two-faced figure. A young woman gazing
into a mirror symbolizes the present, while an old man looks backward
to past events. The snake represents wisdom, gained through
self-knowledge and living a just life

Head of a youth, Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), ca. 1465, glazed terracotta

(L) Madonna and Child (The Lehman Madonna), Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), ca. 1470-75, glazed terracotta. (R) Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), ca. 1470, glazed terracotta

François I (1494-1547), king of France, Girolamo della Robbia (1488-1566) or Luca della Robbia (Luca the Younger) (1475-ca. 1548), 1529, glazed terracotta

Madonna and Child with scroll, Luca della Robbia
(1399/1400-1482), ca. 1455, glazed terracotta

Mystic mandorla, Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529/30),
ca. 1515, glazed terracotta

(L) Dovizia (Abundance), Workshop of Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529/30), ca. 1515-25, glazed terracotta. (R) Saint Michael, Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529/30), 1500-1510, glazed terracotta and metal

The Della Robbia family frequently reworked their models to create compositional variations. This figure of Saint Michael and that of Dovizia nearby were adapted from the same basic form. Where Dovizia raises a hand to steady a platter of fruit, Saint Michael wields a sword as he prepares to slay the devil, in the form of a dragon, writhing beneath his feet.

Cherubs' heads, Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525)
and Workshop, ca. 1500, glazed terracotta

Heraldic medallion with the arms of the Gaetani and Minerbetti families,
Della Robbia Workshop, possibly Giovanni della Robbia
(1469-1529/30), after 1493, glazed terracotta

(L) Madonna and Child in a niche, Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-1482), ca. 1460, glazed terracotta with gilt and painted details. (R) The Assumption of the Virgin (The Marquand Altarpiece), Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) and Workshop, ca. 1485, glazed terracotta

Sections of The Assumption of the Virgin (The Marquand Altarpiece), Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), ca. 1485, glazed terracotta

Sections of The Assumption of the Virgin (The Marquand Altarpiece), Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), ca. 1485, glazed terracotta

Architectural bracket, Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529/30)
and Workshop, ca. 1500, glazed terracotta

Photo of the Week: The Colossal Head of Augustus in the Cortile della Pigna, Vatican Museums (IV)

The Colossal Head of Augustus, dating from the 1st century AD, is displayed on the east wall of the open-air Cortile della Pigna (Courtyard of the Pinecone) in the Vatican Museums (Photo by New York Scugnizzo)

Monthly Traditional Latin Mass at St. Ann's Church in Midland, Texas

Remembering S.A.R. Maria Immacolata Luisa di Borbone, Princess of Bourbon Two Sicilies and Countess of Bardi

21 January 1855 – 23 August 1874

In memory of S.A.R. Maria Immacolata Luisa di Borbone, Princess of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Countess of Bardi, daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, we pray for the happy repose of her soul.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

The Feast of Santa Rosalia at the Santa Rosalia Chapel in Utica, New York

New Kindle Edition — History of Sicily in Ancient Times: Prehistoric peoples, Sicanians, Sicels, Elymians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans

A new title that may be of interest to our readers. Available at Amazon.com

• History of Sicily in Ancient Times: Prehistoric peoples, Sicanians, Sicels, Elymians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans by Mario Trombino and Francesca Brucoli

Publisher: Diogene Multimedia
Pub. Date: July 13, 2026
Kindle: $17.99
Language: English
File size: 1.4 MB

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The 47th Annual St. Pio Festival at the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, NJ

The Stone Legacy of Washington Heights

Castle Village, Washington Heights, 1938. Contemporary architectural
rendering depicting the redevelopment of the former Paterno estate

Every time I travel north out of the city along the Henry Hudson Parkway, my companions’ eyes are almost always drawn to the left, where the Hudson River stretches toward the majestic Palisades. It is a breathtaking vista, to be sure. Yet I often find myself looking in the opposite direction. Rising from the hillsides of Washington Heights are cyclopean retaining walls, graceful stone arches, terraces, and masonry of astonishing scale. They possess a permanence that makes even the tallest modern glass-and-steel buildings seem fleeting by comparison. Rather than imposing themselves upon the landscape, they seem to grow from the cliffs themselves, honoring the genius loci of the Heights and preserving the rugged character that makes it unlike any other neighborhood in New York.

Washington Heights is one of the city’s great monuments to stone. Around the Met Cloisters, through the wooded paths of Fort Tryon Park, and beneath the towering approaches to the George Washington Bridge, the exposed Manhattan schist gives the setting much of its distinctive character. The Billings Arcade, pedestrian underpasses, and steep stepped streets appear almost organic, as though they had always belonged to the hills themselves.

It is easy to admire this remarkable setting while forgetting the men who created it. Long before modern machinery made such work routine, innumerable laborers, a great many of them Southern Italians, drilled, blasted, hauled, and set these enormous stones by hand. Quarrymen, masons, and subway sandhogs endured punishing conditions to transform the rugged ridge into streets, parks, and neighborhoods that continue to serve generations of New Yorkers. Their labor became part of the very foundation of the city.

Dr. Charles Vincent Paterno

Among the visionaries who recognized the potential of the region was Dr. Charles V. Paterno, born Canio Paternò on August 4, 1878, in Castelmezzano, Basilicata. Perhaps it is no coincidence that a man born among the dramatic stone peaks of Castelmezzano should later feel at home among the rocky heights of northern Manhattan.

Trained as a physician but remembered as one of New York’s most innovative developers, Paterno refused to flatten the landscape to suit his ambitions. Instead, he worked with the terrain, pioneering architectural solutions that embraced the natural contours of the cliffs. His hillside developments, including the Paterno Castle, the Colosseum, Hudson View Gardens, and the Pumpkin House, demonstrated that engineering and beauty could coexist, allowing architecture to emerge from the rock rather than obscure it.

Whenever I pass through Washington Heights, I cannot help but think of the Southern Italians who left an indelible mark on these hills. They brought more than resilience and determination; they brought generations of stoneworking knowledge, refined over centuries in the mountains and villages of the Mezzogiorno. Here, that ancient tradition found a new expression, shaping one of the most distinctive urban landscapes in New York City.

The neighborhood remains one of the city’s unsung masterpieces. Its enduring masonry speaks not only of engineering skill but of vision, sacrifice, and craftsmanship. In an age increasingly defined by soulless architecture, every arch, terrace, arcade, stone stairway, and weathered wall stands as a tribute to the Southern Italian workers who built them and to pioneers like Dr. Charles V. Paterno, whose vision helped transform the Heights into one of New York’s most beautiful and monumental works of art.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, August 20th, Feast of San Bernardo

An Evening of Bourbon Numismatics

There are few pleasures greater for an amateur numismatist than gathering with kindred spirits over drinks, light fare, and lively conversation. We recently spent an evening salon-style, passing around coins and medals of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, each piece inspiring discussions of history, artistry, and the Bourbon past. It was a reminder that collections are best appreciated not in isolation, but in the company of those who share the same passion.