ROBBIA, Luca della
(b. 1399/1400, Firenze, d. 1482, Firenze)

Logic (or Philosophy)

c. 1437
Stone, 83 x 69 cm
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

In 1437, Luca della Robbia was commissioned for completing the external decoration of the Campanile in Florence, began a century earlier by Andrea Pisano. Luca executed five hexagonal panels for the north side of the Campanile depicting the Liberal Arts (Grammar, Logic, Music, Arithmetic, and Geometry). The sculptor remained faithful to the fourteenth-century tradition of the preexisting panels, but made references to works of contemporary artists such as Jacopo della Quercia, Ghiberti, Donatello or Michelozzo.

The Logic, in which according to Vasari the sculptor portrayed a dialog between Plato and Aristotle, shows the influence of Donatello.