BOSTON, MA.- In Italy during the Renaissance (around 1400 to 1600), an innovative form of sculpture was developed using fine clay that was shaped and modeled before being fired in a kiln. Called terracotta in Italian (meaning “baked earth”), this type of sculpture often has been overlooked by scholars in favor of the more commonly known Renaissance sculptures carved in marble or cast in bronze. “Modeling Devotion: Terracotta Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance”, a new scholarly exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, on view from February 25 to May 23, 2010, draws attention to this category of art through a presentation of fifteen terracotta sculptures collected by Isabella Gardner and recently conserved. Additional works of note are on view in the historic galleries. “The beauty and significance of painted terracotta sculpture of the Italian Renaissance is only now being appreciated,