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Catholic Art
Shop for fine Catholic art and religious art imported from Italy.Adorn your home, office or church with beautiful religious artwork, or surprise a loved one with a hand-painted saint statue or Christian painting for the perfect Catholic gift! About our Catholic Artists Ado Santini The Master Ado Santini was born in Cecina, in the province of Livorno, in January 1936.  So great was the passion he showed very early for art and sculpture that he was obliged to stop his studies at school to follow the footprints of his uncle, also a talented sculptor. Religious devotion and the Classics - they are some of the themes touched by this sculptor whose artistic fame is already recognized all over the world. Santini drew inspiration from the precious methods of the Tuscan "bottega" in order to create artistic models formed with their hands utilizing only wooden sticks as tools. In 1987 Ado Santini decided to follow his dream. He soon began production of his own statues of the highest artistic quality, completely made and decorated by hand. Guided by his wife Angela, Ado Santini has become a powerful force on both the national and international markets, developing his own style, with his labor-intensive hand-working method. Their daughter Simona has become an artist in her own right, learning the techniques developed by her father and adding her own artistic touch. Carmine Giuseppe Apolito 
Florence, Italy is considered the cradle of art, and the place where the Renaissance originated.After attending the School of Arts in Sesto Fiorentino, Carmine Apolito was ready to receive his formal training under the tutelage of renowned ceramics artist Eugenio Pattarino. There, he had the opportunity to develop his natural creativity and his eye for artistic detail, constantly improving and learning from the master. Finally, in 1974, Apolito and his wife co-founded Ceramiche Artistiche in Florence.  He begins with the finest red clay from Montelupo in the province of Florence, then meticulously fashions and models it by hand into beautiful sculptures. Once he is satisfied with the creations, they are baked and then decorated completely by hand with brilliant enamels and pure gold paint. The creations of Carmine Apolito and his highly-trained assistants are regarded to be among the finest. Both his ceramic and Della Robbia plaques are cherished around the world. Della Robbia This beautiful art originated in the 1440’s with Luca Della Robbia (1400-1482) and was carried on by his nephew Andrea Della Robbia and Andrea’s son, Giovanni. Lucia was greatly influenced by Nanni di Banco and Lorenzo Ghiberti, but it has not been determined who actually was the first to surround their works of art with garlands of fruits and flowers.  Lucia first started using “glazed terracotta” in 1441 and quickly became famous for it, as it blended well with Renaissance architecture of the time. The labor-intensive process involves baking terracotta twice in an oven and coloring it light blue on a white background, then painstakingly adding other colors, carefully coating it with a thin layer of an amorphous liquid glaze, and finally baking it in a kiln at 1090 degrees C. and removing it at the exact moment it is finished. Lucia Della Robbia is most famous for his numerous Madonna & Child works. Only one of these works has been dated (1449), and it is in “lunette” (a half moon shape) at San Domenico with the Dominican friars in Urbino, Italy. However, more well known and universally admired are the “Madonna of the Rosary” and “Madonna of the Apple”, both of which are in Florence, Italy, and the “Frescobaldi Madonna” (in Berlin). Due to Luca’s increasing popularity and demand for his works, Andrea (1435-1525) started working with him and eventually inherited his uncle’s workshop, continuing the art. 
It is generally thought that only some of Andrea’s pieces were as well done as this uncle’s. These include the relief images of the “Crucifixion”, and “Annunciation” found in the Verna monastery near Arezzo, Italy, the “Visitation” in “San Giovanni Fuoricivitas” in the city of Pistoia and the “Meeting of St. Dominic and St. Francis” in the arcade in St. Paul’s in Florence. In 1505 Andrea started co-operating with his son, Giovanni (1469-1529), but to Giovanni the glazed terracotta works were more of a “business” than an “art” with easier to obtain effects such as “low relief”, a flatter object with less dimension. There are a few works of art by Giovanni that have found popularity: “Deposition” at the Bargello in Florence, the “Ascension” in the Pisa cemetery, and the multicolored decoration of the hospital of “Ceppo” in Pistoia, with which he had help from Benedetto and Sante Buglioni. Unfortunately there are other companies making cheap knock-offs of Della Robbia art, but none of them are made with the same care and attention to detail as the ones available on our website. Each imported piece is made to the same exacting standards as the old masters.
Our Catholic Art imported from Italy can be found in the following store categories:MaryShop.com Newsletter Sign up for our e-newsletter and be first to know about free products and sales. We send no more than 1 email per month. *SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up now and we'll email you a 5% Discount Coupon for MaryShop.com instantly! MaryShop.com will never share your personal information with any third parties. As a devout religious store, we view your privacy as sacred. | |
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