DOMENICO GHIRLANDAIO ENGRAVED BY CHARLES W BECK FROM THE ORIGNAL PAINTING
Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (, ,[1][2][3] Italian: [do'me?niko girlan'da?jo]; 2 June 1448 – 11 January 1494), professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio, also spelled as Ghirlandajo, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the so-called "third generation" of the Florentine Renaissance, along with Verrocchio, the Pollaiolo brothers and Sandro Botticelli. Ghirlandaio led a large and efficient workshop that included his brothers Davide Ghirlandaio and Benedetto Ghirlandaio, his brother-in-law Bastiano Mainardi from San Gimignano, and later his son Ridolfo Ghirlandaio.[4] Many apprentices passed through Ghirlandaio's workshop, including the famous Michelangelo.[4] His particular talent lay in his ability to posit depictions of contemporary life and portraits of contemporary people within the context of religious narratives, bringing him great popularity and many large commissions.[5]
Life and works[edit]
Early years[edit]
Ghirlandaio was born Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi. He was the eldest of six children born to Tommaso Bigordi by his first wife Antonia di ser Paolo Paoli; of these, only Domenico and his brothers and collaborators Davide and Benedetto Ghirlandaio survived childhood. Tommaso had two more children by his second wife, also named Antonia, whom he married in 1464. Domenico's half-sister Alessandra (b. 1475) married the painter Bastiano Mainardi in 1494.[6] Both Ghirlandaio's father and his uncle, Antonio, were setaiuolo a minuto (dealers of silks and related objects in small quantities).[citation needed]
Giorgio Vasari reported that Domenico was at first apprenticed to his father, who was a goldsmith. The nickname "Il Ghirlandaio" (garland-maker) came to Domenico from his father, who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like headdresses worn by Florentine women.[4] According to Vasari, Domenico made portraits of the passers-by and visitors to the shop: "when he painted the country people or anyone who passed through his studio he immediately captured their likeness".[4] He was eventually apprenticed to Alesso Baldovinetti to study painting and mosaic. According to the art historian Günter Passavent, he was apprenticed in Florence to Andrea del Verrocchio.[8] He maintained a close association with other Florentine painters including Botticelli and with the Umbrian painter Perugino.[9]
First works in Florence, Rome, and Tuscany[edit]
Ghirlandaio excelled in the painting of frescos and it is for his fresco cycles that he is best known. An early commission came to him in the 1470s from the Commune of San Gimignano to decorate the Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church of that city. The frescos, executed from 1477 to 1478, depict two miraculous events associated with the death of Saint Fina.[10]
Pope Gregory announces the death of Santa Fina, in the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano (about 1477)
In 1480, Ghirlandaio painted St. Jerome in His Study as a companion piece to Botticelli's Saint Augustine in His Study in the Church of Ognissanti, Florence.[5] He also painted a life-sized Last Supper in its refectory. From 1481 to 1485, he was employed on frescoes at the Palazzo Vecchio, painting among other works an Apotheosis of St. Zenobius (1482) in the Sala del Giglio, an over-life-sized work with an elaborate architectural framework, figures of Roman heroes, and other secular details, striking in its perspective and compositional skill.[11]
In 1481, Ghirlandaio was summoned to Rome by Pope Sixtus IV as one of a team of Florentine and Umbrian painters who he commissioned to create a series of frescos depicting popes and scenes from the Old and New Testaments on the walls of the Sistine Chapel.[12] Ghirlandaio painted the Vocation of the Apostles. He also painted the now lost Resurrection of Christ. The Crossing of the Red Sea has also been attributed to him, but is consistent with the style of Cosimo Roselli who was also part of the commission. Ghirlandaio is known to have created other works in Rome, now lost. His future brother-in-law, Sebastiano Mainardi, assisted him with these commissions and in the early frescoes at San Gimignano where Mainardi is now thought to have painted an Annunciation sometimes attributed to Ghirlandaio.[citation needed]
In 1484, an agent of Ludovico il Moro wrote to his lord, describing the works of the individual artists whose works he had seen in Florence: "Domenico Ghirlandaio [is] a good painter on panel and better in mural fresco; his style is very good; he is active and very creative."
Later works in Tuscany[edit]
The Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule from the Sassetti Chapel, with portraits of Lorenzo de' Medici and his family occupying prominent positions as spectators to the event
Between 1482 and 1485, Ghirlandaio painted a fresco cycle in the Sassetti Chapel of Santa Trinita for the banker Francesco Sassetti, the powerful director of the Medici bank, whose Rome branch was headed by Giovanni Tornabuoni, Ghirlandaio's future patron. The cycle was of six scenes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, including Saint Francis obtaining from Pope Honorius the Approval of the Rules of His Order, the saint's Death and Obsequies and a Resuscitation of a child of the Spini family, who had died as a result of a fall from a window.[4] The first of these paintings contains portraits of Lorenzo de' Medici, Sassetti and Lorenzo's children with their tutor, Agnolo Poliziano. The Resuscitation shows the painter's own likeness.
In 1483, there arrived in Florence a masterpiece of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes. Now known as the Portinari Altarpiece, it was an Adoration of the Shepherds, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, an employee of the Medici Bank. The painting was in oil paint, not the tempera employed in Florence, and demonstrated the flexibility of that medium in the painting of textures and intensity of light and shade. The aspect of the painting that had a profound effect on Ghirlandaio was the naturalism with which the shepherds were depicted.[5]
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Sassetti Chapel, containing a portrait of Ghirlandaio as one of the Shepherds
Ghirlandaio painted the altarpiece of the Sassetti chapel, an Adoration of the Shepherds, in 1485. It is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece. The shepherds, among whom is a self-portrait of the artist, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time.[5] The altarpiece is still in position in Santa Trinita, surrounded by the six frescoes depicting the Life of St. Francis of which it became the centrepiece. On either side are portraits of the kneeling donors, and although the figures are in fresco on the wall, they occupy the same position and relationship to the central scene of the Adoration that the donors do on the outer panels of the Portinari triptych.[15]
Immediately after the commission for the Sassetti Chapel, Ghirlandaio was asked to renew the frescoes in the choir of the Santa Maria Novella, which formed the chapel of the Ricci family. The Tornabuoni and Tornaquinci families, who were much more prominent than the Ricci, undertook the cost of the restoration, with certain contractual conditions.[a] The Tornabuoni Chapel frescoes were painted in four courses around the three walls between 1485 and 1490, the subjects being the lives of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist.[4]
Detail of the Angel appearing to Zacharias showing portraits of the philosophers Marsilio Ficino, Cristoforo Landino, Angelo Poliziano and Demetrios Chalkondyles
In this cycle, there are no fewer than twenty-one portraits of the Tornabuoni and Tornaquinci families. In the Angel appearing to Zacharias, there are portraits of members of the Medici Academy: Agnolo Poliziano, Marsilio Ficino and others.[4] The Tornabuoni Chapel was completed in 1490 with the altarpiece probably executed with the assistance of Domenico's brothers, Davide and Benedetto;[4] and a stained glass window to Ghirlandaio's own design.[citation needed] Domenico painted an altarpiece for Giovanni Tornabuoni to commemorate his first wife who had died in childbirth, as had Giovanni's mother. The Virgin with the Two Marys is now in the Louvre. It is the only time that the two Marys are seen without Mary Magdalen. They usually are depicted together as the Three Marys. However, Mary Magdalene was never pregnant[citation needed] so was not a fitting subject for this altarpiece.
Visitation, c.?1491
Although mainly known for his fresco cycles Ghirlandaio painted a number of altarpieces including the Virgin Adored by Saints Zenobius, Justus and Others, painted for the church of Saint Justus, now in the Uffizi Gallery and the Adoration of the Magi in the Florentine orphanage, the Ospedale degli Innocenti, in which he included a self-portrait. Other panel paintings include Christ in Glory with Romuald and Other Saints, in the Badia of Volterra and the Visitation now in the Louvre, which bears the last ascertained date (1491) of all his works.[11] Ghirlandaio painted a number of panel portraits of known identities, such as his profile portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, commissioned in 1488.[15] Perhaps his best known is the Portrait of an Old Man and his Grandson, remarkable for both the tenderness of expression and the realism with which the disfigured nose (rhinophyma) of the old man is depicted.[5]
According to Vasari, Ghirlandaio also painted several scenes of Classical subjects with nude figures, including a Vulcan and his Assistants forging Thunderbolts, for Lorenzo II de' Medici, but which no longer exists. He also produced designs for a number of mosaics including the Annunciation, on a portal of the Florence Cathedral.[4]
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The Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni (also known as Portrait of Giovanna degli Albizzi[1]) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed in 1488 and located in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. The portrait was commissioned by Lorenzo Tornabuoni after his wife's death in 1488 and includes many symbolic details.[2]
Description[edit]
The painting portrays Giovanna degli Albizzi, a Florentine noblewoman who was married to Lorenzo Tornabuoni. She died in childbirth in 1488, the year specified on the cartellino[1] (Italian for a slip of paper) in the background. It was commissioned by her husband, Lorenzo Tornabuoni, and the portrait was actually painted about two years after her death, around 1489-90, for the Tornabuoni family.[3] She has been identified thanks to her other portraits in the Tornabuoni Chapel and a medal of Giovanna, also by Ghirlandaio, where she has the same hair style.[2]
It depicts the young woman from the side in a linear, ornamental arrangement which was common for the time.[4] This profile portrait was the common style of 15th century Florentine portraiture.[5] The figure is wearing precious clothes including a gamurra vest. On the right, behind her, are a hanging coral necklace (perhaps a rosary), a partly closed prayer book, and a Latin inscription, taken from an epigram by the 1st century AD poet Martial. She also holds a handkerchief. The figure of Giovanna is idealized in appearance and proportion which was the tradition of the time.[2]
Symbolism[edit]
Many aspects of this portrait hold symbolic significance in emphasizing her wealth, status, and piety. Giovanna's fine clothing indicates her status and the wealth of her family. The Tornabuoni emblem is present on her clothes, as well as two "Ls" on her shoulder, referring to her husband, Lorenzo. These emblems denote Giovanna's family and illustrate where the visible wealth comes from.[4] In addition to the clothes, the presence of pearls and brooches also emphasizes the family's wealth.[4] The pendant featured in the portrait shows a small diamond set in gold above a large ruby with three pearls hanging beneath it. This was a signature ornament found in depictions of Giovanna and came from her sister-in-law Lodovica's dowry.[2]
Another symbol within the portrait is the string of coral beads. The coral beads seen in the background are likely a rosary, signifying Giovanna's religious piety. During the Renaissance, coral also had many connotations. It was believed to ward against evil, aid in fertility, and was associated with the blood of Christ.[6]
The book seen behind Giovanna, possibly a prayer book, also refers to her piety and educated status.[6]
A significant aspect of the background in this portrait is the cartellino behind Giovanna. The inscription is a modified excerpt of a poem by the author Martial.[1] The epigram reads: "ARS VTINAM MORES ANIMVM QVE EFFINGERE POSSES PVLCHRIOR IN TERRIS NVLLA TABELLA FORET MCCCCLXXXVIII". This translates to "Art, would that you could represent character and mind! There would be no more beautiful painting on earth 1488".[1] This epigram refers to both the virtue of the sitter whom it is positioned behind[1] and the skill of the painter.[7] By referring to Giovanna's beauty, Ghirlandaio conveys the beauty of the sitter reflects their morality.[8] The adjustments to the epigram were likely a done by Poliziano, one of Lorenzo's teachers.[2]
Analysis[edit]
Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni has been extensively studied. It has been x-rayed as well as analyzed with ultra-violet, infra-red, and cross-section techniques.[3] Through these analyses it was found that the painting was created with a brush underdrawing. There are several differences between the underdrawing and the final painting, including the positioning of the hands and the included accessories. The hands were initially held higher, but were lowered in the finished piece into a less assertive position. The necklace Giovanna is wearing in the final portrait was originally a string of beads and featured a different pendant. The other accessories in the background were not present in the underdrawing.[3] Ghirlandaio also modified the hair styling and the curves of the figure's body. Overall the final portrait was more idealized than the original underdrawing.[2]
Original Location[edit]
The portrait was originally placed in the camera del palcho d'oro (Italian for the chamber with the golden beams) in Lorenzo Tornabuoni's suite in the Tornabuoni palace. The presence of the portrait in a public space of the palace commemorated Giovanna's death. During this time, portraits of deceased individuals served to record lineage, exemplify important figures, and commemorate loved ones. This portrait likely presented Giovanna as an exemplary figure in the Tornabuoni palace.[9]
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