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Although glazed terra-cotta had long been used as earthenware, Luca della Robbia popularized its use for sculpture. The medium gained great popularity in fifteenth-century Florence and became a specialty of the della Robbia family studio, which was directed by Andrea after Luca, his uncle, died. Altarpieces made of glazed terra-cotta were more colorful, less expensive, and easier to transport than similar sculptures in marble.

This Annunciation group has the solemnity and grace typical of the last years of the early Renaissance in Florence (1450–60s). Rediscovered in the small Florentine church of San Nicolo, the figures were probably made for a private chapel in the Bardi Palace, where they would have been placed at some distance from each other, perhaps flanking an altarpiece, portal, or window.

The entire group consists of Mary, the archangel Gabriel, and possibly the dove of the Holy Spirit. Mary's downcast eyes and hand across her breast indicate she is accepting the Incarnation with pious humility. She is represented with the refined features and graceful rhythms that late fifteenth-century artists used to suggest spiritual worthiness.

The della Robbia studio primarily produced pictorial reliefs. Figures of the size of those in The Annunciation , independent of any background, are very rare.

In Naples, a great seaport, the archangel Raphael was considered a special patron of seafarers because of his role in the apocryphal tale of Tobias. There is evidence that this figure of Raphael was once accompanied by that of Tobias. The Book of Tobias in the Apocrypha tells of a beautiful young man, actually Raphael, who offered to travel with Tobias on his first journey away from home to recover a debt owed his poor, aged father. With the angel's care and instruction Tobias met and overcame many hazards.

This figure's graceful beauty and slender proportions link it with the late Renaissance (about 1550–1600) style, in which the unsettling character of mannerist art (c. 1525-50) gave way again to classicizing balance. The technique used to color the angel's tunic, imitating brocade, is called sgraffito. The wood sculpture is covered with gold leaf and then painted; designs are then incised in the paint to reveal patterns in the gold.

Raphael's upward-pointing hand indicates his divine mission and serves as a reminder of faith in God. His sandals, girdle, and tunic recall Roman military dress, a reference to the archangels' identity as a powerful paladin of Christ. While his stance and backward-flowing drapery can be interpreted as a forward stride, the angel's body is not thrust forward, and the edges of his elaborate robes curl up unexpectedly, creating the sensation that he is surrounded by the "spiritual wind" that indicated special holiness in earlier Christian art. Despite the beauty of this magnificent sculpture, the identity of its creator remains unknown.

John Deare, an English sculptor who spent his entire professional career in Rome, was commissioned by the Royal Academy to make this relief for an exhibition in 1787. In style and subject matter it reflects the neoclassical taste for perfection. The philosophers of the Age of Reason believed that man and society, through the systematic study and emulation of both classical learning and arts, could return to a Golden Age paralleling that of classical antiquity. Deare's relief embodies this ideal.

Deare's scene is from Homer's Iliad , a literary source for which contemporary archaeological discoveries had created renewed interest. The enthroned Jupiter sits among the gods at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (at left), to which all except the goddess of discord, Eris, were invited. The spiteful Eris tossed a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest" among the guests, and Minerva, Juno, and Venus each claimed it. Jupiter, refusing to pick the most beautiful of this formidable trio, has handed the apple to his messenger, Mercury, who flies above, giving him instructions to pass it, and the thankless task, to the mortal prince, Paris. Deare represents the three goddesses challenging Jupiter. Paris's decision will ultimately lead to the Trojan War, here evoked by Mars, god of war, shown at the far right.

Deare's carving varies from nearly flat background figures to others almost completely in the round, a Renaissance technique that gives the illusion of three-dimensional space. The forms of the bodies are idealized, smooth, and refined. This is the most important English neoclassical relief in the United States.