Domenico Ghirlandaio

“ The marble ciborium, a small reproduction of the splendid one in S. Domenico at Siena, is also by Benedetto. The beautiful frescoes with scenes from the life of the saint (a local saint who died at the age of fifteen) are the earliest work of Domenico Ghirlandaio, completed before 1475. There are also some frescoes of his cousin Bastiano Mainardi (d. 1513) . The cathedral contains other 14th-century and early Renaissance paintings, the former including some Passion scenes, the only certain work of Barna da Siena, and some fine choir stalls. ”

“ Whether in art or life, these are not always the most agreeable companions. The charming person is generally a traditionalist, or a tactful profiteer by other men’s discoveries. So the popular favor has ever gone not to the strenuous artists of Masaccio’s type or Castagno’s, but to devotees of the charm of common folk and things, like Fra Filippo Lippi; to masters of pageantry and incident, like Benozzo Gozzoli; or to chroniclers of the festal richness of Florence in her short prime, like Domenico Ghirlandaio. These artists, while by no means giants, are highly representative of their times. ”

“ Domenico's father was a goldsmith, one of the cleverest goldsmiths in Florence, and he was specially famous for making garlands or wreaths of gold and silver. It was the fashion then for the young maidens of Florence to wear these garlands, or 'ghirlande' as they were called, on their heads, and because this goldsmith made them better than any one else they gave him the name of Ghirlandaio, which means 'maker of garlands,' and that became the family name. ”

“ Tommaso del Gliirlandajo was the first who invented and made those ornaments worn on the head by the young girls of Florence, and called garlands (ghirlande) , [3] whence Tommaso acquired the name of Ghirlandajo. Yet not for being the first inventor only, but also on account of the vast number and extraordinary beauty of those made by him, insomuch that none could please, as it should seem, but such as came from his work-rooms. Being thus placed to learn the art of the goldsmith therefore, Domenico, whom this occupation did not satisfy, employed himself perpetually in drawing ”

“ The third, with long black hair and thick lips, is Bastiano of San Gemignano, disciple and cousin of Domenico; and the fourth, who turns his back and has a cap or barett on the head, is the painter David Ghirlandajo, his brother. All these persons are said by those who knew them, to be very animated and faithful likenesses. ”

“ For so many a long day lay this holy virgin upon her one side only, that the flesh became corrupted and the plank begat vermin which devoured her flesh. Moreover, because of the corruption of these things, the rats gathered together and devoured her flesh.'
Ghirlandaio could read no poetry into this perverted moral. He forgot the rats and vermin and the sore corruption, thinking of her only as the fair maiden, so goodly to human eyes, whose claim to saintship rested on her holiness and chastity and patience. Listen once more to the words of Fra Giovanni her chronicler. ”

“ According to the latter, Joachim, (Giovacchino) a rich man, presents the third of his possessions on the altar; but on a certain occasion, his gift is rejected by the high priest, because he is childless; he departs in shame and grief to the wilderness, whence he is recalled by an angel, with the promise, that his wife Anna shall bear a child. This promise is fulfilled by the birth of the Virgin. ↑ Landucci, in the MS. before cited, and Manni, Dei Sigilli, &c., affirm this to be the portrait of Tommaso, father of Domenico Ghirlandajo, and not of Alesso Baldovinetti. ”

“ We will not talk long of Ghirlandajo,—Domenico Ghirlandajo (for there is another, Ridolfo by name, who is not nearly so important to the art-world) . His composition is similar to that of Masaccio. A few people are intimately engaged, and the others are bystanders, or onlookers. One characteristic is that many of these last are portraits of Florentine men and women who were his contemporaries, and so we get from his pictures a knowledge of the people and costumes of his time. His backgrounds are often masses of Florentine architecture, some of which you will readily recognize. ”

“ Domenico, son of Tommaso del Ghirlandajo, who, by the pre-eminence of his talents and the importance and number of his works, is entitled to be placed among the first and most excellent masters of his time, was formed by nature to be a painter, and followed the bent of his disposition, notwithstanding the determination to the contrary of those who had him in charge. ”

“ The abbot, who had already gone to bed, arose on hearing the clamour, believing the monastery to be falling down, and finding the monk in a bad condition, began to reproach David. But the latter replied in a fury, bidding him begone from his sight, and declaring the talents of Domenico to be worth more than all the hogs of abbots of his sort that had ever inhabited the monastery. The abbot being thus brought to his senses, did his best from that moment to treat them like honourable men as they were. ”

“ One among them kisses the hands of the departed, and the expression in his case could not possibly be rendered more perfect by the art of the painter. There is also a bishop, in his episcopal vestments and with spectacles on his nose; he is chanting the prayers for the dead; and the fact that we do not hear him, alone demonstrates to us that he is not alive, but merely painted. [8] On each side of the altar-piece are two compartments, in one of which Domenico painted the likeness of Francesco Sassetti on his knees ”

“ Impediments thus offered to the inclinations of youth, frequently nip the most promising fruits of genius in the bud, by compelling the attention to an illsuited employment, and forcibly turning it from the vocation to which there is a natural impulse; but Domenico, obeying the instinct of his nature, as we have said, obtained for himself the highest honours, secured great advantage to art, as well as to his kindred, and his contemporaries ”

“ Then, after they had been companions together in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandajo, it came to pass that Granacci, because he was held to be the best of Ghirlandajo's young men, the strongest draughtsman, and the one who had most grace in painting in distemper, assisted David and Benedetto Ghirlandajo, the brothers of Domenico, to finish the altar-piece of the high-altar in S. Maria Novella, [Pg 58] which had been left unfinished at the death of the same Domenico. ”

“ In his admirable school there is no painter one enjoys—pace Ruskin—more sociably and irresponsibly. Lippo Lippi is simpler, quainter, more frankly expressive; but we retain before him a remnant of the sympathetic discomfort provoked by the masters whose conceptions were still a trifle too large for their means. The pictorial vision in their minds seems to stretch and strain their undeveloped skill almost to a sense of pain. In Ghirlandaio the skill and the imagination are equal, and he gives us a delightful impression of enjoying his own resources. ”

“ In the countenance of Our Lady, more particularly, there is the manifestation of all the modesty, grace and beauty that can be imparted to the Mother qf the Son of God by the painter’s art. [14] There is likewise a work by this master in the church of San Marco, in the middle aisle, with a Last Supper in the strangers’ refectory of the cloister, both executed with much care. [15] In the palace of Giovanni Tornabuoni, Domenico painted the Adoration of the Magi, also very carefully executed. ”

“ The master, without doubt, deserves infinite commendation on all accounts, but most of all for the animation of the heads, which, being portrayed from nature, present to all who see them the most lively similitudes of many distinguished persons.
For the same Giovanni Tomabuoni, Domenico painted a chapel at his villa of the Casso Maccherelli, situate at no great distance from the city, on the river Terzolle, but which has since been destroyed by the encroachments of the torrent ”

“ Over an arch in the same chapel there is a Misericordia, wherein Domenico has portrayed the likeness of Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed to the Indies; [4] and in the refectory of the convent (of Ognissanti) he painted a fresco of the Last Supper. [5] In Santa Croce, at the entrance of the church on the right hand, Domenico painted the story of Santo Paolino, [6] whereby, having acquired great reputation, and attained to high credit, he was commissioned by Francesco Sassetti to paint a chapel in Santa Trinita, [7] with stories from the life of San Francesco ”

“ He was related to the family of the Vasari of Arezzo, and caressed and encouraged to the art his infant biographer. [56]
Another of the artists employed in the Sistina, [186] inferior to Luca, but of no despicable (though, if we look at Masaccio, too highly rated) powers, was Domenico Bigordi, commonly called Del Ghirlandajo; [57] this is he under whose auspices not only his son Ridolfo, but even Bonaroti and the best artists of the succeeding epoch, began their course. Precision of outline, decorum of countenance, variety of ideas, facility and diligence, distinguish his works. ”

“ Many a painter has failed in the large space or made only a perfunctory success, but in the small has achieved real feeling. Gentile's Holy Family on its way to Egypt is never to be forgotten. Not so radiant as Fra Angelico's, in the room we have visited out of due course, but as charming in its own manner—both in personages and landscape; while the city to which Joseph leads the donkey (again without reins) is the most perfect thing out of fairyland.
Ghirlandaio's picture, which is the neighbour of Gentile's, is as a whole nearer life and one of his most attractive works. ”

“ But Domenico did away in a great measure with those flourishes and scrolls formed with gypsum or bole and gold, which were better suited to the decorating of tapestry or hangings, than to the paintings of good masters. [12] But more beautiful than any of the other figures is that of Our Lady, who has the Child in her arms, and four little Angels around her. This picture, than which nothing better could be executed in tempera, was at that time in the church belonging to the above-named friars, without the gate which opens on the road to Pinti ”

“ However that may be, the Ghilzai clans now rank collectively as second to none in strength of military and commercial enterprise. They are a fine, manly race of people, and it is from some of their most influential clans (Suliman Khel, Nasir Khel, Kharotis, &c.) that the main body of povindah merchants is derived.
GHIRLANDAJO, DOMENICO (1449-1494) , Florentine painter. His full name is given as Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi ”

“ Ghirlandajo was an insatiate worker, and expressed a wish that he had the entire circuit of the walls of Florence to paint upon. He told his shop-assistants not to refuse any commission that might offer, were it even for a lady’s petticoat-panniers: if they would not execute such work, he would. Not that he was in any way grasping or sordid in money-matters, as is proved by the anecdote of the readiness with which he gave up a bonus upon the stipulated price of the Ricci chapel frescoes, offered by the wealthy Tornabuoni in the first instance, but afterwards begrudged. ”

“ When the ability as well as the person of Michelagnolo had grown in such a manner, that Domenico, seeing him execute some works beyond the scope of a boy, was astonished, since it seemed to him that he not only surpassed the other disciples, of whom he had a great number, but very often equalled the things done by himself as master, it happened that one of the young men who were learning under Domenico copied with the pen some draped figures of women from works by Ghirlandajo ”

“ The art of painting in mosaic after the modern manner, was enriched by Domenico more than by any other Tuscan of the numbers who have laboured therein, as may be seen by his works, even though they are but few; wherefore he has well deserved to be honoured, for his rich and varied talents, with a high rank in art, and to be celebrated with the highest praises after his death. ”

“ Gentile was charming rather than great, and to this work might be applied Ruskin's sarcastic description of poor Ghirlandaio's frescoes, that they are mere goldsmith's work; and yet it is much more, for it has gaiety and sweetness and the nice thoughtfulness that made the Child a real child, interested like a child in the bald head of the kneeling mage; while the predella is not to be excelled in its modest, tender beauty by any in Florence ”

“ Ghirlandajo is classed among religious painters, but let us compare some of his "religious" paintings with those of Raphael or Murillo, and see the result.
He painted seven frescos on the walls of the Santa Maria Novella in Florence, all scenes of Biblical history, as Ghirlandajo imagined them. They show him to have been a fine artist, but to have had not much idea of history, and to have had little sense of fitness.
Ghirlandajo's seven subjects are taken from legends of the Virgin, and the greatest represents Mary's visit to Elizabeth ”

“ Reduced from Anderson’s photograph (no. 8148) of a part of the fresco, “Zacharias in the Temple,” in the Church of Santa Maria Novella at Florence, by Domenico Bigordi, better known as Ghirlandajo, (1449-1494) .
“It is the same with many Greek and Latin poets, who, although different in their writing, are equal in their fame. The 51orators, too, have always had so much diversity among themselves, that almost every age has produced and prized a type of orator peculiar to its own time ”