Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449 – 1494

Domenico Ghirlandaio's last and greatest fresco cycle was painted for Medici banker, Giovanni Tornabuoni, and represents scenes from the life of the Virgin and of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence. Ghirlandaio signed the contract on Sept. 1, 1485, for these large frescoes on the walls of the choir of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. From Webgallery of Art

Ghirlandaio, Ognissanti Florence 1480

In 1480 Ghirlandaio painted the superbly restored Last Supper in the refectory of a convent attached to Ognissanti.

Ghirlandaio, Santa Trinita, Florence 1482 - 86

Ghirlandaio, Santa Trinita, Florence, The church is uninteresting except for Domenico Ghirlandaio's frescoes of the Medici clan in the Sassetti Chapel

The Sassetti Chapel in Santa Trinita, Florence

Scenes from the Life of S. Francis 1482-85

Ghirlandaio's selfportrait

Ghirlandaio's Frescoes in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, 1485-1490

The frescoes are large and so full of details that viewed from the distance they are confusing. Excellent new reproductions of their details are available at the Hungarian Web Gallery of Art, which I will use to illustrate Ghirlandaio's superior portraiture.

The Cappella Tornabuoni in Santa Maria Novella

Baptism of Christ

The rich Florentine bankers who commissioned his work...

and their sophisticated wives and daughters, 1486