Cantoria (singers' gallery) of the Florence Cathedral

The authorities ordered an organ loft, called a "cantoria" from Luca della Robbia in 1431. He worked eight years on the project and translated into three-dimensional images the 150th Psalm of David (Laudate Dominum) whose verses are transcribed in Roman lettering on the three fascias of the pulpit. He set ten bas-reliefs in two superimposed rows, depicting young men, young girls and putti. Sometimes standing out from and sometimes closely adhering to the background, the figures are singing in harmony, playing instruments, and dancing.

This is the first documented work by Luca. Originally above the door to the North Sacristy, opposite to the cantoria by Donatello above the South Sacristy, it was dismantled (together with Donatello's) in 1688 and replaced by Baroque pulpit realised for the wedding of Ferdinando de' Medici to Violante Beatrice of Bavaria.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 5 minutes):
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Laudate Dominum (from Vesperae solennes de confessore K 339)