Domenico Ghirlandaio

Domenico Ghirlandaio 

1449-1494

Domenico Ghirlandaio was born in Florence, Italy, during the Early Renaissance. His real name was Domenico de Tommaso Bigordi. His father was a goldsmith, and the nickname Ghirlandaio means garland, one of his father’s specialties. He was trained by the great artists of the time in a realistic style that showed exceptional detail and expression. In one of his paintings, Adoration of the Shepherds, he painted himself as a one of the shepherds with an expression of surprise and wonder.

Ghirlandaio lived during the High Renaissance, and the people in his paintings are real people who lived in Italy during that time. Although the portraits are realistic representations of actual people, they also represent ideas common to everyone, such as youth and old age, respect and love. Like other Renaissance painters, Ghirlandaio was fascinated with capturing the expressions and the personalities of his subjects.

Ghirlandaio created a sense of depth by showing backgrounds behind the people in his paintings. Although the backgrounds are stylized rather than realistic, they frame the figures and push them closer to the viewer.

Ghirlandaio was a master of realism. He was an expert at showing texture in such fabrics as velvet and brocade, in hair heightened by gold, and in the soft or wrinkled skin of hands and faces. He showed form, or roundness, in faces by using highlights and shadows. He captured the feelings of people through the expressions in their eyes and mouths. Ghirlandaio was the teacher of Michelangelo, the great sculptor and painter of the Sistine chapel in the Vatican in Rome, Italy.