Francesco Robba
{{short description|Italian sculptor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Francesco Robba
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1698|05|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = Venice, Republic of Venice
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1757|01|24|1698|05|01|df=y}}
| death_place = Zagreb, Kingdom of Hungary
| nationality = Italian
| other_names =
| occupation = Sculptor
| years_active = 1720–1757
| parents =
| awards =
| spouse = Theresa Mislej
| children =
}}
File:Robbafountain.jpg at Town Square in Ljubljana. In the background, Ljubljana Cathedral can be seen.]]
Francesco Robba (1 May 1698 – 24 January 1757) was an Italian sculptor{{cite book |last1=Dunford |first1=Martin |last2=Holland |first2=Jack |title=The Real Guide: Yugoslavia |date=1990 |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=New York |page=38 |quote=Robba was an Italian architect and sculptor ...}}{{cite book |last1=Plut-Pregelj |first1=Leopoldina |last2=Kranjc |first2=Gregor |last3=Lazarević |first3=Žarko |title=Historical Dictionary of Slovenia |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, MD |page=55|quote=Francesco Robba, an Italian sculptor ...}}{{cite book |last1=Plut-Pregelj |first1=Leopoldina |last2=Rogel |first2=Carole |title=The A to Z of Slovenia |date=2010 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham, MD |page=37 |quote=Francesco Robba, an Italian sculptor ...}} of the Baroque period from Venice.
Life
Francesco Robba was born in Venice. He received his training in the workshop of the Venetian sculptor Pietro Baratta from 1711 to 1716. In 1720, he moved to Ljubljana to work for the Jesuit order. There he married local stonemason's Luka Mislej daughter Theresa in 1722.
In this early period, his first marble statues and reliefs still reflect the influence of Pietro Baratta. When Mislej died in 1727, Robba took over his workshop and his clientele. Soon Robba started to earn his own reputation and was awarded commissions by ecclesiastical, aristocratic and bourgeois patrons. Already in 1729 his work was praised in a letter to Prince Emmerich Esterházy, Archbishop of Esztergom by the rector of the Jesuit College in Zagreb, Francesco Saverio Barci.
From 1727 on his works attest of a growing self-confidence. His technical virtuosity manifests itself in the emotional expressions and the refined forms of his statues. During his stay in Ljubljana, he didn't lose contacts with Venice, since he paid several visits to his native city. This allowed him to remain familiar with the Baroque sculpture of Venice, central Italy and Rome.
The prevailing view has been that in 1755, Robba left Ljubljana for Zagreb, Croatia, where he died on 24 January 1757. According to an article published in 2001 by Blaž Resman, new documents had shown that even though Robba died on a short trip to Zagreb, his residence and his workshop remained in Ljubljana.{{cite journal |url=http://uifs.zrc-sazu.si/?q=/node/247 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728182026/http://uifs.zrc-sazu.si/?q=/node/247 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-28 |title=Epilog k Francescu Robbi |language=Slovenian |journal=Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica |first=Blaž|last=Resman |year=2001 |volume=6 |issn=1408-0419 |publisher=Scientific Research Centre, Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences }}
Works
File:Ljubljana (Gornji trg) - relief sv. Janeza Nepomuka na pročelju cerkve sv. Florijana (F. Robba, 1727, marmor).jpg by Francesco Robba, statue on the facade of St. Florian's Church in Ljubljana]]
File:Ljubljana Ursuline Church Altar.JPG in Ljubljana]]
The best-known work by Francesco Robba is the Fountain of the Three Rivers of Carniola (1751), representing the Ljubljanica, the Sava and the Krka. It was inspired by the Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers on Piazza Navona and by the fountain on Piazza della Rotonda, both in Rome.
Other works include the Narcissus Fountain (Ljubljana), the main altar and the statues (1732) in St. James's Church (Ljubljana), an altar in Ljubljana Cathedral, the majority of the main altar in the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation (Ljubljana), a statue of St. John of Nepomuk in Klagenfurt (Austria) and an altar in the parish church in Vransko.[http://rkd.situla.org/ Slovenian Ministry of Culture register of national heritage] reference number ešd 3502 Francesco Robba is also the creator of the main altar of the Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity in Ljubljana and presumably also of the marble statue of the Holy Trinity Monument that stands in front of it.{{cite news |url=http://www.pogledi.si/druzba/na-kaj-spominja-sv-trojica-na-kongresnem-trgu |title=Na kaj spominja sv. Trojica na Kongresnem trgu |language=Slovenian |trans-title=What Reminds the Holy Trinity at Congress Square Of? |newspaper=Pogledi.si |publisher=Delo, d. d. |first=Božidar |last=Jezernik |date=8 July 2011}}
The work of Francesco Robba was highlighted in an international scientific symposium, held in Ljubljana in November 1998.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Janez Höfler et al., eds. 2000. Francesco Robba in beneško kiparstvo 18. stoletja [Francesco Robba and the Venetian Baroque Sculpture of the Eighteenth Century]. Ljubljana: Rokus, {{ISBN|961-209-160-9}}, 245 pp.
- Matej Klemenčič. 2013. Francesco Robba (1698–1757): beneški kipar in arhitekt v baročni Ljubljani. Maribor: Umetniški kabinet Primož Premzl, {{ISBN|978-961-6055-41-3}}, 311 pp.
External links
- {{commons category-inline|Francesco Robba}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Republic of Venice sculptors
Category:18th-century Italian sculptors
Category:Italian male sculptors