pleased with his co-operation that he gave him his sister in
marriage.He now returned to Florence, and undertook in the church of the Trinita, and afterwards in S. Maria Novella, the works which have set the Seal on his celebrity. The frescos in the Sassetti Chapel of S. Trinita are six subjects from the life of St Francis, along with some classical accessories, dated 1485. Three of the principal incidents are St Francis obtaining from Pope Honorius the approval of the Rules of his Order; his Death and Obsequies; and the Resuscitation, by the interposition of the beatified saint, of a child of the Spini family, who had been killed by falling out of a window. In the first work is a portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici; and in the third the painter's own likeness, which he introduced also into one of the pictures in S. Maria Novella, and in the Adoration of the Magi in the hospital of the Innocenti. The altar-piece of the Sassetti -C‘l1apel, the Adoration of the Shepherds, is now in the Florentine Academy. Immediately after disposing of this commission, Ghirlandajo was asked to renew the frescos in the choir of S. Maria Novella. This choir formed the chapel of the Ricci family, but the Tornabuoni and T orna- quinci families, then much more opulent than the Bicci, undertook the cost of the restoration, under conditions, as to preserving the arms of the ticci, which gave rise in the end to some amusing incidents of litigation. The frescos, in the execution of which Domenico had many assistants, are in four courses along the three walls,—thc leading subjects being the Lives of the Madonna and of the Baptist. Besides their general richness and dignity of art, these works are particularly interesting as containing many historical portraits—a method of treatment in which Ghirlandle was pre-eminently skilled. There are no less than twenty-one portraits of the Tornabuoni and Tornaquinci families ; in the subject of the Angel appearing to Zacharias, those of Poliziano, Marsilio Ficino, and others; in the Salutation of Anna and Elizabeth, the beautiful Ginevra de’ Benci; in the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple, Mainardi and Baldovinetti (or the latter figure may perhaps be Ghirlandajo's father). The Ricci chapel was re—opened anzl campleted in 1490; the altar—piece, now removed from the chapel, was probably executed with the assistance of Domenico’s brothers, David and Benedetto, painters of ordinary calibre ; the painted window was from Domenico’s own design. Other distinguished works from his hand are an altar-piece in tempera of the Virgin adored by Sts Zenobius, Justus, and others, painted for the church of St Justus, but now in the Uffizi gallery, a remarkable masterpiece; Christ in glory with Romuald and other Saints, in the Badia of Volterra; the Adoration of the Magi, in the church of the Innocenti (already mentioned), perhaps his finest panel-picturs, 1488; and the Visitation, in the Louvre, bearing the latest ascertained date, 1491, of all his works. Ghirlandajo did not often attempt the nude; one of his pictures of this character, Vulcan and his Assistants forging Thunderbolts, was painted for L0 Spedalctto, but (like several others specified by Vasari) it exists no longer. The picture attributed to him in the London National Gallery is dubious; it may perhaps have come from the atelier of Verrocchio. The mosaics which he produced date before 1491; one, of especial celebrity, is the Annunciation, on a portal of the cathedral of Florence.
In general artistic attainment Ghirlandajo may fairly be regarded as exceeding all his precursors or competitors; though the names of a few, particularly Giotto, Masaccio, Lippa Lippi, and Botticelli, stand higher for originating power. His scheme of composition is grand and decorous; his Chiaroscuro excellent, and especially his perspectives, which he would design on a very elaborate scale by the eye alone ; his colour is more open to criticism, but this remark applies much less to the frescos than the tempera-pictures, which are sometimes too broadly and crudely bright. lle worked in these two methods alone—never in oils ; and his frescos are what the Italians term “ buon fresco,” without any finishing in tempera. A certain hardness of outline, not unlike the character of bronze sculpture, may attest his early training in metal work. He first introduced into Florentine art that mixture of the sacred and the profane which had already been practised in Siena. His types in figures of Christ, the Virgin, and angels are not of the highest order; and a defect of drawing, which has been often pointed out, is the meagreness of his hands and feet. It was one of his maxims that “painting is designing.” 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 readi— ness with which he gave up a bonus upon the stipulated price of the Ricci chapel frescos, offered by the wealthy Tornabuoni in the first instance, but afterwards begrutlgcd. Yasari says that Ghirlandajo was the first to abandon in great part the use of gilding in his pictures, representing by genuine painting any objects supposed to be gilded ; yet this does not hold good without some considerable exceptions the high lights of the landscape, for instance, in the Adora- tion of the Shepherds, now in the Florence Academy, being put in in gold. Many drawings and sketches by this painter are in the Uffizi Gallery, remarkable for vigour of outline. One of the great glories of Ghirlandajo is that he gave some early art—education to Michelangelo, who cannot, how. ever, have remained with him long. Granacci was another of his pupils.
This renowned artist died of pestilential fever on 11th January 1494, and was buried in S. Maria Novella. He had been twice married, and left six children, three of them being sons. He had a long and honourable line of descendants, which came to a close in the 17th century, when the last members of the race entered monasteries. It is probable that Domenico died poor; he appears to have been gentle, honourable, and conscientious, as well as energetically diligent.
14th February 1483, and being thus less than eleven years old when his father died, he was brought up by his uncle David. To this second—rate artist he owed less in the way of professional training than to Granacci, Piero di Cosimo, and perhaps Cosimo llossclli. It has been said that i‘iitl()lfu studied also under Fra Bartolonnneo, but this is not clearly ascertained. He was certainly one of the earliest students of the famous cartoons of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. His works between the dates 1504 and 1508 show a marked influence from Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael, with the latter of whom he was on terms of familiar friendship; hence he progressed in selection of form and in the modelling and relief of his figures. Raphael, on reaching Rome in 1508, wished Ridolfo to join him; but the Florentine painter was of a particularly home-keeping humour, and he neglected the opportunity. He soon rose to the head of the Florentine oil-painters of his time,- and, like his father, accepted all sorts of commissions, of whatever kind. He was prominent in the execution of vast scenic canvases for various public occasions, such as the Wedding of Giuliano de’ Medici, and the Entry of Leo. X. into Florence in 1515. In his prime he was honest and
conscientious as an artist; but from about 1527 he declined, having already accumulated a handsome property, more