Luca della Robbia's sculptures, especially of the Virgin and Child, are among the best-loved works of art of the Renaissance. He was especially adept at creating compositions in the circular format known as the tondo, a demanding form explored by the most ambitious artists of the time. Here the Virgin appears in front of angels, one of whom holds a scroll proclaiming Gloria in excelsis Deo. The subject of the relief, the incarnation of God into man, is simply and effectively conveyed by the convincing naturalism of the infant Jesus, who makes a dignified blessing gesture mature beyond his years. Primarily blue and white, this work was probably originally more brilliant, with gold rays behind the Virgin, whose hair and robe also had gilded decoration. The collector Edmond Foulc added the ceramic border of plants and fruits from the workshop of Luca's nephew Andrea. There is no early history for this important sculpture, but recent research reveals that a tondo of the Virgin and Child often decorated the bedchambers of well-to-do citizens of Florence. Dean Walker, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 113.