Choice
ID
Image
Paintings (From A to Z)
Details
43858
Adoration of the Magi
1487
Tempera on wood,
63010
Adoration of the Magi
1488 Tempera on wood, 285 x 240 cm Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence Vasari writes about the painting: "In the church of the Innocenti he painted in tempera a much-admired picture of the Magi, containing some fine heads and varied physiognomies of people both young and old, notably a head of the Virgin, displaying all the modesty, beauty and grace which art can impart to the Mother of God". There are so many saints in this Adoration that it is not easy to make out the three Magi. On the left, Saint John the Baptist is kneeling and pointing to the Madonna. The orphans of the Spedale are represented by two of the innocent boys who were killed during the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem, kneeling in the foreground. There are gaping bloody wounds to their faces, arms and necks. In this Adoration of the Magi, Ghirlandaio's carefully thought out use of colour is particularly impressive: Ghirlandaio distributes the glowing colours evenly. Mary in the centre is wearing a blue cloak over a red dress. The oldest king kneeling in front of her is wearing a variation of these colours combined with yellow. To the left of Mary, the youngest king holding the valuable goblet in his hand - he almost looks like Saint John the Evangelist - is also dressed in blue, yellow and red. The figure standing on the right edge of the picture wearing an expensive hat repeats this combination of colours, though now the blue and yellow are reversed. In the second figure from the right, wearing the blue hat, the Madonna's colours of red and blue are visible again, and they are repeated in clothes of the bearded man wearing a turban on the left edge of the picture. Between the Madonna and the man with the blue hat on the right, the artist creates a yellow highlight, though with a weaker blue accent, in the figure of Joseph. This row of figures alone produces a rhythm of colour from left to right: red and blue; yellow, blue and red; red and blue; yellow and blue; red and blue; yellow, blue and red. The work represents one of Ghirlandaio's most important "easel" works. Here too the assistants were at work. Indeed, in the scene of the Slaughter of the Innocents in the background, Berenson recognized the hand of Bartolomeo di Giovanni, the author of the stories from the predella. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Adoration of the Magi , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
57234
An old man with a boy's portrait
mk255 for in 1490. Plastic paint dye, Yang wood 0.62 meters high, 0.46 meters wide. Paris, the Louvre
44377
Angel Appearing to Zacharias
1486-90
63000
Announcement of Death to St Fina
1473-75 Fresco Colleggiata, San Gimignano Next to the shining bowl is an almost empty decanter, covered by an inverted glass to protect the valuable wine. As the artist repeated both vessels in his later frescoes of the Last Supper, it is possible that they a reference to the sacrament of Holy Communion. The character of the objects, so like a still life, is an approximation to Flemish paintings, though Ghirlandaio has not yet achieved a Flemish materiality in his work. On the far right, two pomegranates are lying on a box; they may be references to the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. Saint Fina did not attempt to gain the biblical forbidden fruits and will therefore be made a saint. Is it possible that the large split on one of the fruits is an allusion to the bodily decay of the saint, which the artist did not dare depict in all its gruesomeness? On a framed panel on the rear wall are the Latin words that St Gregory spoke to Fina: "Be prepared my daughter, for on my feast day you will be taken up into our community and live there forever with your bridegroom." A window in the rear wall allows air and light to enter the bare room. A picture within a picture, the window appears very much like a landscape painting. The few domestic objects on the bench at the back give the room a home-like quality. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Announcement of Death to St Fina (detail) , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
6858
Announcement of Death to St Fina sdg
1473-75
Fresco
Colleggiata, San Gimignano
6851
Apse fresco dh
c. 1471
Fresco
Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina
63006
Baptism of Christ
1473 Fresco Sant'Andrea a Brozzi, San Donnino The fresco is in the tympanum above the Madonna and Child with Saints. Two angels are kneeling on the left bank of the river Jordan, shown as a little flat stream flowing towards us. They are holding the clothes of the person being baptized, who is clad only in a loincloth. Christ is standing in water up to his ankles. St John the Baptist, in a fur robe, is gathering up his cloak and stepping carefully on to a stone to baptize Christ. This fresco, because of its poorer quality, is frequently attributed to assistants from Ghirlandaio's workshop. It is a loose copy of the famous panel painting which Verrocchio painted with the help of his assistant Leonardo da Vinci. Ghirlandaio added the two praying angels on the right of his composition, and these, together with the corresponding figures on the other side of the river, form a compositional frame for the work.. This assumption that clear symmetrical balance is important shows that the artist was still rather conservative. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Baptism of Christ , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
6857
Baptism of Christ dfg
c. 1473
Fresco
Sant'Andrea a Brozzi, San Donnino
52595
Birth of Mary
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni
63004
Birth of Mary
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence "... One of (the women) holds the Child in her arms and makes it laugh by smiling, with a feminine grace truly worthy of a work of this great genius, each figure being distinguished in its various expressions" (Vasari). Here Ghirlandaio succeeds in convincingly continuing the rear wall of the real chapel, which has windows, into the depth of the picture, where there is also a painted window. As a result, part of the frieze of dancing putti playing instruments is in the light, and part in shadow. The figures of the nurses are also captivatingly vivid the joy of the lovely woman holding the child lights up her bright face. And the marvelous moving figure of the woman pouring water gives the picture a look of everyday life. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Birth of Mary (detail) , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
63005
Birth of St John the Baptist
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence Here a beautiful unknown woman from the donor's immediate circle is looking at us. She is holding a small cloth in her hands, which are elegantly clasped in front of her stomach, and dressed in a gentle pink, a hue picked up in her cheeks. Two women wearing white head-dresses accompany her; the elder is probably the donor's sister, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, who died before the picture was painted. She was the mother of Lorenzo il Magnifico and sister of Giovanni. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Birth of St John the Baptist (detail) , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
52360
Calling of the First Apostles
1481 Fresco Cappella Sistina
64765
Calling of the First Apostles
1481 Fresco Cappella Sistina, Vatican The group of women on the left side of the fresco, including a woman in blue seen from behind, anticipates the female figures Ghirlandaio paints in later works. Artist:GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Title: Calling of the First Apostles (detail), 1451-1500, Italian , painting , religious
62997
Coronation of the Virgin
1486 Tempera on wood Pinacoteca Comunale, Citta di Castello The Coronation in Citt?di Castello is untypical of Ghirlandaio because of its limited palette: its impact is derived primarily from the contrast of various shades of blue and red with a few yellow highlights. In contrast with the old-fashioned picture in Narni, only the female saints in the centre are kneeling; three holy men are standing on each side of them. This emphasizes the circular glory composed of airy shades of blue, giving the work a dynamic and animated character. The saints on this picture are mainly ones from the Franciscan order. On the far left stands the founder of the order, St Francis of Assisi. This altarpiece is not an autographed work, it was probably made by the workshop. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Coronation of the Virgin , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
44393
Death and Assumption of the Virgin
1486-90
63007
Death and Assumption of the Virgin
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence In the final scene, painted in the large pointed tympanum on the left wall of the chapel, two events, the Death and Assumption of the Virgin, are depicted in one picture. In this last story "... is the Passing of Our Lady and her Assumption, with troops of angels, a number of figures, landscapes and other ornaments, in which Domenico's easy and skilful style usually abounds" (Vasari). The composition and execution of this poorly preserved fresco are poorer than in the other pictures in the chapel. In its solemn character the scene is comparable with the considerably better Obsequies in the Saint Fina and the Sassetti chapels. Mary's body is lying on a bier in an open space, mourned by the grieving Apostles. Four angels are carrying long candles or palm leaves. The dead Mary's pale face is old, her cheeks sunken. But in a glory above her, a young and beautiful Virgin with a rosy face is being carried up to heaven by angels to meet her son. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Death and Assumption of the Virgin , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
32339
Decoration of the Sala del Gigli
1482-84
Fresco
63102
Decoration of the Sala del Gigli
1482-84 Fresco Palazzo Vecchio, Florence Under the side arches stand historical characters who embody civic and republican virtues. In these figures Ghirlandaio produced very detailed variations of Roman armor and the classical contrapposto postures, features portrayed with considerable archeological accuracy. On the right Decius, Scipio and Cicero are depicted. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Decoration of the Sala del Gigli (detail) , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , historical
43525
Detail of Baptism of Christ
Ghirlandaio made slight changes to Christ-s standing position and replaced the angels on the right with a kneeling male nude, who is already taking off his shoes in preparation for the baptismal ceremony.
43519
Detail of Birth of St John the Baptist
1451-1500
Florence The small St John is being breast fed by a young nurse in the foreground, and a servant is already stretching her arms out energetically for him
43520
Detail of Birth of St John the Baptist
1451-1500
Hers is almost a dance step, and one might well ask why.
43522
Detail of Confirmation of the Rule
The detail shows the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Palazzo Vecchio in the background.
43521
Detail of Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple
Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence Ghirlandaio was more successful in his depiction of the group of three young women on the left than in his depiction of the main events.
43517
Detail of Stigmata of St Francis
1451-1500
Florence Three riders have stopped by a river in order to let their horses drink.
51705
Detail of the Adoration of the Magi
nn09
1488
Tempera on wood
285x240cm
43518
Detail of Visitation
1451-1500
A pair of women behind them are Elisabeth-s companions
43862
Domenico
c. 1486
Ink on paper,
220 x 170 mm
33282
Entombment of St.Fina
mk83
1473-1475
Fresco
44379
Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple
1486-90
52597
Herod-s Banquet
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni
33394
Last Supper
mk86
1480
Fresco,total width 812cm
Florence,Convent of San Marco.Refectory
43515
Last Supper detail
1451-1500
32342
Madonna and Child Enthroned between Angels and Saints
c. 1486
Tempera on wood,168 x 197 cm
32341
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
c. 1479
Tempera on wood, 170 x 160 cm
43856
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
c. 1483
Tempera on wood,
191 x 200 cm
62995
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
1483 Tempera on wood Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence This detail of a flower vase on a colourful carpet could be taken from a Flemish panel painting if it were painted using the oil technique developed there rather than tempera, which Ghirlandaio used. In this detail, the artist creates a positive frenzy of colours and forms to enliven the picture. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints (detail) , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , still-life
6856
Madonna and Child with St Sebastian and St Julianb ghj
c. 1473
Fresco
Sant'Andrea a Brozzi, San Donnino
32343
Madonna in Glory with Saints
1490-96
Tempera on wood, 221 x 198 cm
6855
Madonna of Mercy gh
c. 1472
Fresco
Ognissanti, Florence
44386
Marriage of Mary
1486-90
44387
Meeting of Augustus and the Sibyl
c. 1485
43864
Obsequies of St Fina
1473-75
64764
Obsequies of St Fina
1473-75 Fresco Colleggiata, San Gimignano In the long row of expressive heads Ghirlandaio already reveals his unique ability to create convincing character studies, a skill that was to bring him fame and many well paid commissions. Some of those depicted do not seem to be taking part in the ceremony, while others are deeply moved. The server at the saint's feet is more interested in his processional cross than in the ceremony, and the server next to him is looking around to keep himself amused. In the lower left corner on of the miracles can be seen: a blind choirboy who kisses her foot regains his sight. Artist:GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Title: Obsequies of St Fina (detail), 1451-1500, Italian , painting , religious
44388
Obsequies of St Francis
1482-85
33395
Old Man and Young Boy
mk86
1488
Tempera on wood
62x46cm
Paris,Musee National du Louvre
44381
Portrait of the Donor Francesca Pitti-Tornabuoni
1486-90
44380
Portrait of the Donor Francesco Sassetti
c. 1485
52358
Portrait of the Donor Giovanni Tornabuoni
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni
44378
Portrait of the Donor Nera Corsi Sassetti
c. 1485
63003
Portrait of the Donor Nera Corsi Sassetti
1485 Fresco Santa Trinit? Florence "In two pictures on either side he painted Francesco Sassetti kneeling, and Madonna Nera, his wife and her children, the latter being in the scene above where the boy is raised to life, with some beautiful maidens of the same family" (Vasari). The two donors are in prayer on either side of the altar, as if they are taking part in the Adoration of the Shepherds depicted on the altarpiece. Linking the frescoes and the central panel painting in this way, Ghirlandaio creates what is almost a triptych. Astonishingly enough, the wife, Nera Corsi Sassetti, is occupying the traditionally more distinguished position on the right of the religious scene. At the base is the painted inscription: A.D. MCCCCLXXX. XV decembris. This could be the initial date of the work whose conclusion is in the great altarpiece with the Nativity, dated 1485. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: Portrait of the Donor Nera Corsi Sassetti , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , portrait
44390
Preaching of St John the Baptist
1486-90
32344
Renunciation of Worldly Goods
1482-85
Fresco
44392
Resurrection of the Boy
1482-85
44391
Slaughter of the Innocents
1486-90
6854
St Antony dfhh
c. 1471
Fresco
Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina
63001
St Barbara
1471 Fresco Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina The vivid colour of her garments and the different shape of her niche give greater emphasis to the figure of St Barbara, who stands between the two old men, St Jerome and St Antony. She is holding her attribute, a tower, and in contrast to the two other saints is looking directly to us. Because she was so beautiful, Barbara's pagan father locked her in a tower. She converted to Christianity, and against his wishes built in her tower a chapel, its three windows symbolizing of the Trinity. Enraged, her father had her beheaded. Here she is depicted standing triumphantly on the armor-clad corpse of her father, who has been killed by a bolt of lightning. His hands are hanging down over the cornice, where they are casting illusory shadows. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: St Barbara , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
6852
St Barbara sdfgs
c. 1471
Fresco
Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina
63002
St Jerome
1471 Fresco Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina St Jerome, wearing a torn penitential robe, is looking across at St Barbara. His wiry, semi-naked body seems to have been ravaged by the hardships of his hermit life. In his right hand he is holding a stone with which to beat himself. His stance is reminiscent of classical contrapposto, his right foot protruding out of the space of the niche across the painted cornice. Artist: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Painting Title: St Jerome , 1451-1500 Painting Style: Italian , , religious
6853
St Jerome fgh
c. 1471
Fresco
Parish Church of Sant'Andrea, Cercina
44384
St John the Baptist in the Desert
1486-90
63834
St John the Evangelist
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence In the Gothic vaults of the Tornabuoni Chapel the four Evangelists are floating on clouds. St John the Evangelist is writing down God's words, which are being conveyed to him by his symbolic animal, the eagle, on a piece of paper.Artist:GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Title: St John the Evangelist Painted in 1451-1500 , Italian - - painting : religious
43524
St Luke the Evangelist
1451-1500
depicted as a young man with brown hair and a beard, is looking at a little book on his knee as he writes down the life of Christ.
43523
St Mark the Evangelist
1451-1500
Florence In the Gothic vaults of the Tornabuoni Chapel the four Evangelists are floating on clouds.
51187
St Matthew the Evangelist
1486-90
Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni
52361
Stigmata of St Francis
1482-85 Fresco Santa Trinit
43516
Stigmata of St Francis detail
1451-1500
Ghirlandaio shows a path that leads over a ramp to the gate of this monastery.
43867
Study of garments
c. 1491
Brush drawing on paper,
290 x 130 mm
43863
Study of Two Women
260 x 170 mm
44383
Test of Fire before the Sultan .
1482-85
44375
View of the Sassetti Chapel
c. 1485
52596
Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son
1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni