Giovanni della Robbia’s The Resurrection of Christ, made from glazed terracotta on display at the Brooklyn Museum for the first time in Two decades after a major restoration. Image: Brooklyn Museum

ART PROJECT

Decades after a major restoration, Della Robbia’s famed The Resurrection of Christ goes on view at the Brooklyn Museum.

BY KAZAD

NEW YORK, NY- The Resurrection of Christ by Renaissance artist Giovanni della Robbia is now on view in the Brooklyn Museum’s 3rd floor Focus Gallery. The acclaimed relief sculpture was created around 1520 and was commissioned by the Antinori family, historical Tuscan vintners since 1385. Acquired in 1899, The Resurrection is the first Renaissance work to enter the Brooklyn Museum collection.

The Resurrection originally adorned a wall of the Antinori family’s villa outside Florence, Italy.  At nearly 12 feet long, the monumental work is made up of forty-six pieces, which come together to create a vision of faith and salvation unfolding amid a vibrant cornucopia of naturalistic plants, flowers, and animals. Since the late 1990s, however, the colorful relief has not been on public view.

In 2015, The Resurrection went through an extensive restoration.  Funding for the restoration project was from the same Antinori family whose ancestors originally commissioned the relief. After more than two decades away from public view, the work is finally back on display at the Brooklyn Museum.

Curated by Lisa Small, Senior Curator, European Art, Della Robbia’s piece is in the Museum’s Focus Gallery indicates a new direction the Brooklyn Museum is following in an effort to present important works in its permanent collection to the public. But more importantly, this new series is also an opportunity to explore their histories of the works presented.  In addition to the installation, an accompanying video provides insight into the lengthy restoration process The Resurrection underwent.

Have you been to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to see  Giovanni della Robbia’s monumental The Resurrection of Christ? Share your thoughts. Leave a comment.