Domenico Ghirlandajo

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As he grew, the boy developed an invincible determination towards the arts. Lodovico from motives of pride and prudence opposed his wishes, but without success. Michael Angelo made friends with the lad Granacci, who was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandajo, and at last induced his father to sign articles for him to the same painter. In Ghirlandajo's workshop he learned the rudiments of art, helping in the execution of the frescoes at S. Maria Novella, until such time as the pupil proved his superiority as a draughtsman to his teacher. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Vasari, who was at one time a pupil of Andrea, describes her as faithless, jealous, overbearing and vixenish with the apprentices. She lived to a great age, surviving her husband forty years.
By 1514 Andrea had finished his last two frescoes in the court of the Servites, than which none of his works was more admired—the “Nativity of the Virgin,” which shows the influence of Leonardo, Domenico Ghirlandajo and Fra Bartolommeo, in effective fusion, and the “Procession of the Magi,” intended as an amplification of a work by Baldovinetti; in this fresco is a portrait of Andrea himself. ”

“ At the age of thirteen he became an apprentice in the bottega of Domenico Ghirlandajo—the greatest and healthiest of Florentine painters. His early works were so successful that the master, it is said, was jealous of his pupil. [8] At the end of a year they separated.
He took a dislike to painting, and, aspiring to a more heroic art, entered the school of sculpture which Lorenzo de' Medici had established in the gardens of St. Mark. [9] The prince interested himself in him, lodged him in his palace and admitted him to his sons' table ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now those works were executed by that painter while his uncle David was still alive, and that good old man took the greatest pleasure in them, thanking God that he had lived so long as to see the art of Domenico come to life again, as it were, in Ridolfo. But finally, being seventy-four years of age, while he was preparing, old as he was, to go to Rome to take part in the holy Jubilee, he fell ill and died in the year 1525, and received burial from Ridolfo in S. Maria Novella, where the others of the Ghirlandajo family lie. ”

“ Ghirlandajo (i. e. Garland-maker) , nickname of Domenico Curradi, an Italian painter, born at Florence; acquired celebrity first as a designer in gold; he at 24 turned to painting, and devoted himself to fresco and mosaic work, in which he won wide-spread fame; amongst his many great frescoes it is enough to mention here “The Massacre of the Innocents,” at Florence, and “Christ calling Peter and Andrew,” at Rome; Michael Angelo was for a time his pupil (1449-1494) .
Ghuzni. See Ghazni.
Giants, in the Greek mythology often confounded with, but distinct from, the Titans (q. v.) ”

“ Domenico is said to have possessed so accurate an eye, that when making drawings from the various antiquities of Rome, as triumphal arches, baths, columns, colossal figures, obelisks, amphitheatres, and aqueducts, he did all by the eye, using neither rule, nor compass, nor instruments of any kind ”

“ 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 ”

“ This is an admirable fresco, but the cartoon was prepared by Domenico himself. At Siena, in an apartment of the Spannocchi Palace, Domenico and Bastiano painted various stories in company, the work is in fresco and the figures are small. In the cathedral of Pisa, likewise, in addition to the recess in the choir, of which I have before spoken, they adorned the whole arch of the same chapel with a numerous choir of angels: they also painted the doors which close the organ, and began to decorate the wood-work in gold. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Domenico has likewise shown the monks issuing from the church with the Becchim, men whose office it is to bury the dead, following the cross and proceeding to the interment; all exhibiting perfect truth to nature, as do other figures, who are expressing the amazement they feel, or the happiness they experience, from the event they have' just witnessed. In this picture are the portraits of Maso, degli Albizzi, Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, and Messer Palla ^ Strozzi, all eminent citizens frequently cited in the history of, Florence. ”

“ It was in vain that the proud parent sought to dissuade the boy, and curb the only inclination he manifested: even at school he contrived to escape the vigilance of the master, and obtained the notice of the artist Ghirlandajo, who said of him, “He is a rising star, that will live to eclipse the brightest planet now shining.” ”

“ 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 ”

“ There is another painting of this same subject by Ghirlandajo in the Louvre, but it is no nearer truth than the one in the Santa Maria.
Ghirlandajo painted other than religious subjects, and one of them, at least, is quite repulsive. It is the picture of an old man, with a beautiful little child embracing him. The old man may have tenderness and love in his face, but his heavy features, his warty nose, do not make one think of pleasant things and one does not care to imagine the dear little child kissing the grotesque old fellow. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Amico di Sandro, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Angelico, Bacchiacca, Fra Bartolommeo, Benozzo, Botticelli, Botticini, Bronzino, Bugiardini, Castagno, Credi, Franciabigio, Domenico and Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Filippino and Fra Filippo Lippi, Lorenzo Monaco, Mainardi, Michelangelo, Orcagna, Pier di Cosimo, Pier Francesco Fiorentino, Antonio Pollajuolo, Pontormo, Cosimo Rosselli, Sellajo, Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, Verrocchio. ”