Domenico Bigardi Ghirlandaio
(1449 - 1494) |
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perspective, naturalistic details, skillful compositions Art Work
| Name: |
Domenico Bigardi Ghirlandaio |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Florence, Italy |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1449 |
| Death: |
1494 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
perspective, naturalistic details, skillful compositions |
| Medium: |
tempera |
| Method: |
fresco |
| Style: |
Italian Renaissance |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
Goldsmith
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Biography
| In comparison with his contemporary Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio was an old-fashioned painter. The nickname "II Ghirlandaio," meaning garland maker, came from his father, a goldsmith known for creating necklaces worn by Florentine women. In his father's shop, Ghirlandaio is said to have made portraits of passersby, and he was soon apprenticed to painter Alessio Baldovinetti to study painting and mosaic. By the age of twenty he ran a large, well-organized workshop with his two brothers. He was excellent at fresco and never used oils, although he painted several portraits in tempera. One of his most significant skills was the inclusion of lifelike contemporary portraits in his paintings. He used simple colors, and it is said that he was the first painter to stop using gilding in his pictures. Summoned by Pope Sixtus IV, he painted a fresco in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The work. Calling of the First Apostles (1481), contains several realistic portraits of prominent contemporary Florentines living in Rome. Most of Ghirlandaio's frescoes are in Florence. His largest commission Is the cycle in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, illustrating scenes from the lives of the Virgin and St. John the Baptist. The work was commissioned by Giovanni Tornabuoni, a partner in the famous and then-powerful Medici bank. Ghirlandaio depicted the story in intricate compositions, arranging characters as if events had taken place in the home of a wealthy Florentine burgher. In an acknowledgment of his benefactor, he included twenty-one portraits of various members of the Tornabuoni family, showing clearly the lifestyles and manners of the time that appealed to middle-class tastes. |
Samples of Work
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