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| Detail from the "Cantoria" by Luca Della Robbia |
"The Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia, was born in the year 1388, in the house of his forefathers in Florence. He was there carefully reared and educated, then placed by his father to learn the art of the goldsmith with Leonardo di Ser Giovanni, who was then held to be the best master in Florence for that vocation.
Luca therefore having learned to draw and to model in wax found his confidence increase, and set himself to attempt certain works in marble and bronze. In these also he succeeded tolerably well, and this caused him altogether to abandon his trade of a goldsmith and give himself up entirely to sculpture, insomuch that he did nothing but work with his chisel all day, and by night he practiced himself in drawing. This he did with so much zeal, that when his feet were often frozen with cold in the night-time, he kept them in a basket of shavings to warm them.
No man ever becomes distinguished in any art whatsoever who does not early begin to acquire the power of supporting heat, cold, hunger, thirst and other discomforts. Those persons deceive themselves altogether who suppose that while taking their ease and surrounded by all the enjoyments of the world, they they may still attain to honourable distinction - for it is not by sleeping, but by waking, watching, and labouring continually that proficiency is attained and reputation acquired."
To be continued
(Excerpts from "Lives of Seventy of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects' edited by E.H. and E.W. Blashfield and A. A. Hopkins.)
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