Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449 – 1494
Detail; Massacre of the Innocents, c. 1486-90
Fresco
Width 450 cm
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Domenico Ghirlandaio, (1448–1494)
Ghirlandaio, Announcement of Death to St Fina
Fresco
Chapel of Santa Fina, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy
St. Gregory the Great, supported by red-winged cherubim, appearing to Santa Fina to announce her death. Saint Fina is praying while lying on a wooden plank. According to the legend, when she died the palette became covered with violets, which are typical March flowers at San Gimignano. A rat under the bench in the background is a reference to Saint Fina's martyrdom (she was eaten alive by rats and worms). The pomegranate is a symbol of royalty, fertility, resurrection and unity of the Church; the apple is a symbol of original sin; the wine refers to the Eucharist sacrament. More on this work
Ghirlandaio excelled in the painting of frescos and it is for his fresco cycles that he is best known. An early commission came to him in the 1470s to decorate the Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church of that city. The frescos depict two miraculous events associated with the death of Saint Fina.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
Saint Jerome in His Study, c. 1480
Fresco
Height: 184 cm (72.4 in); Width: 119 cm (46.8 in)
Ognissanti Church, Florence
Saint Jerome is portrayed with his head resting on one hand, while writing with the other. On the writing desk is the date (MCCCCLXXX), as well as a sealed letter, glasses, two inkwells, scissors and a candle holder. The desk is covered by an oriental carpet, a luxurious object often depicted by Ghirlandaio. The objects on the shelves include a cardinal hat, two pharmacist vases, a cylindrical case, a necklace, a purse, some fruit, two transparent glass bottles and an hourglass.
The light comes from the upper right corner, producing a well defined shadow of the saint on the drapery behind him; but also from the foreground, illuminating the objects on the desk. More on this work
In 1480, Ghirlandaio painted St. Jerome in His Study as a companion piece to Botticelli's Saint Augustine in His Study in the Church of Ognissanti, Florence.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
The Last Supper, c. 1480
Fresco
Height: 400 cm (13.1 ft); Width: 880 cm (28.8 ft)
Ognissanti Church , Florence
The apostles sit in a shallow U-shaped setting, with only the two flanking apostles sitting at a 90 degree angle with the others. John the Apostle at Christ's left has fallen to sleep. Judas sits apart on the near side of the table, as is common in early depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art. However, in this depiction, the upper register is not interior, but opens up into the tree-line orchard with birds. The halos of the apostles have narrowed into thin circles; and the apostles cast shadows. St Peter and another apostle appear to challenge Judas. Judas the traitor is the only one to be separated from the others: he is seated in front of the table. More on this work
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
Detail; The Last Supper, c. 1480
Fresco
Height: 400 cm (13.1 ft); Width: 880 cm (28.8 ft)
Ognissanti Church , Florence
The apostles react in a variety of ways to Christ's words that He will be betrayed. While the disciple on the right appears to be asking: "It is me, Lord, who will betray you?" More on this work
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
Detail; The Last Supper, c. 1480
Fresco
Height: 400 cm (13.1 ft); Width: 880 cm (28.8 ft)
Ognissanti Church , Florence
He also painted a life-sized Last Supper in its refectory. From 1481 to 1485, he was employed on frescoes at the Palazzo Vecchio, painting among other works an Apotheosis of St. Zenobius, striking in its perspective and compositional skill.
Domenico Ghirlandaio, (1448–1494)
The Vocation of the Apostles, c. 1481
Fresco
Height: 349 cm (11.4 ft); Width: 570 cm (18.7 ft)
Sistine Chapel
The painting depicts Christ calling Peter and Andrew from their nets, and the Resurrection of Christ, the greater part of which is now destroyed..." Later, the Resurrection vanished completely in the destruction of the wall.
On the left are scenes from the life of Moses, and on the right scenes from the life of Christ. On the right are members of the most influential Florentine families who maintained residences in Rome. In the background on the right is Christ calling James and John, who are sitting in a boat mending their nets with their father, Zebedee... More on this work
In 1481, Ghirlandaio was summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV as one of a team of Florentine and Umbrian painters who he commissioned to create a series of frescos depicting popes and scenes from the Old and New Testaments on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Ghirlandaio painted the Vocation of the Apostles. He also painted the now lost Resurrection of Christ. The Crossing of the Red Sea has also been attributed to him. Ghirlandaio is known to have created other works in Rome.
Hugo van der Goes, (circa 1440 –1482)
Portinari Altarpiece, c. 1476-1478
Mary Magdalene, Child Jesus, Virgin Mary
Oil on wood
253 × 141 cm (99.6 × 55.5 in)
Uffizi, Florence
In 1483, there arrived in Florence a masterpiece of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes. Now known as the Portinari Altarpiece, it was an Adoration of the Shepherds, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, an employee of the Medici Bank. The painting was in oil paint, not the tempera employed in Florence, and demonstrated the flexibility of that medium in the painting of textures and intensity of light and shade. The aspect of the painting that had a profound effect on Ghirlandaio was the naturalism with which the shepherds were depicted.
Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduced important innovations in painting through his monumental style, use of a specific colour range and individualistic manner of portraiture. From 1483 onwards, the presence of his masterpiece, the Portinari Triptych, in Florence played a role in the development of realism and the use of colour in Italian Renaissance art
In 1483, there arrived in Florence a masterpiece of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes. Now known as the Portinari Altarpiece. The painting was in oil paint, not the tempera employed in Florence, and demonstrated the flexibility of that medium. The aspect of the painting that had a profound effect on Ghirlandaio was the naturalism with which the shepherds were depicted. More on Hugo van der Goes
Between 1482 and 1485, Ghirlandaio painted a fresco cycle in the Sassetti Chapel of Santa Trinita. The cycle was of six scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. The first of these paintings contains portraits of Lorenzo de' Medici, Sassetti and Lorenzo's children. The Resuscitation shows the painter's own likeness.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule, between 1483 and 1485
Fresco
Basilica of the Holy Trinity, Florence
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
Sassetti Chapel, from 1483 until 1486
Basilica of the Holy Trinity, Florence
Ghirlandaio painted the altarpiece of the Sassetti chapel, an Adoration of the Shepherds, in 1485. It is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece.
Domenico Ghirlandaio
The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1483-85
167 x 167 cm
Santa Trinità, Firenze
The shepherds, among whom is a portrait of the artist himself, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time.
Domenico Ghirlandaio
Detail; The Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1483-85
Domenico Ghirlandaio
167 x 167 cm
Santa Trinità, Firenze
Immediately after the commission Ghirlandaio was asked to renew the frescoes in the choir of the Santa Maria Novella, which formed the chapel of the Ricci family.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
An Old Man and his Grandson, circa 1490
Tempera on poplar wood
Height: 62.7 cm (24.6 in); Width: 46.3 cm (18.2 in)
Louvre Museum
Although mainly known for his fresco cycles Ghirlandaio painted a number of altarpieces. Perhaps his best known is the Portrait of an Old Man and his Grandson, remarkable for both the tenderness of expression and the realism with which the disfigured nose of the old man is depicted.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
The Annunciation, c. 1486 and 1490
Fresco
Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence, Italy
Ghirlandaio also painted several scenes of Classical subjects with nude figures, including a Vulcan and his Assistants forging Thunderbolts, for Lorenzo II de' Medici, but which no longer exists. He also produced designs for a number of mosaics including the Annunciation, on a portal of the Florence Cathedral.
Ghirlandaio died in 1494 of "pestilential fever" and was buried in Santa Maria Novella. More on Domenico Ghirlandaio
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