Italian, Florence, circa 1500, Workshop of Andrea Della Robbia (1435 - 1525), Stemma of the Pitti Family

Galleria d'Arte Frediano Farsetti;

Bruno Botticelli, Florence;

Fabrizio Moretti, Florence.

R. Dionigi, Stemmi Robbiani in Italia e nel Mondo, Florence, 2014, p. 165, no. 130 (as Workshop of Andrea Della Robbia)

In 15^th century Florence, the Pitti family enjoyed considerable wealth and influence in their native city, a direct result of Luca di Bonaccorso Pitti's (1395-1472) close relationship with Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464). In addition to his mercantile background, Luca was a politican fiercely loyal to Cosimo, who in 1458 appointed him to Gonfalonier of Justice. Because of this relationship between the two most powerful families in Florence, Luca was able to commission and construct the Palazzo Pitti, the largest private residence in that city which still stands today and is now one of Italy's most prestigious museums.

Stemmi, or coats of arms, were visible and tangible reminders of the enormous influence that aristocratic families shared. They were often made of glazed terracotta, a surprisingly durable medium pioneered by Andrea della Robbia's uncle Luca della Robbia, and were commonly mounted on the façades of civic buildings, private residences, and courtyards belonging to patrician Tuscans.

The present stemma is distinctly Tuscan in its shield-like shape common in the late work of Andrea and pervasive in Giovanni's work. The size indicates it was most likely used above a doorway within a private Pitti residence. It may have been surrounded by a decorative wreath of vegetation ( fig. 1) also modeled in glazed terracotta.

Related Literature:

A. Marquand, Robbia Heraldry, Princeton 1919