Domenico Ghirlandaio an Old Man and His Grandson (Ca 1480-1490)

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COVER ART Domenico Ghirlandaio An Old Man and His Grandson (ca 1480-1490) HE IDENTITIES of the 2 figures in this painting the existence of entire extended families. Married ing by Domenico Ghirlandaio are un- women were under pressure to repopulate the family and known, but the picture conveys such a community by being almost continuously pregnant, ex- close relationship between them that it has posing themselves repeatedly to the pain and serious risks long been assumed that they are grandfa- of childbirth. Mortality rates among infants and chil- Tther and grandson. Ghirlandaio was among the busiest dren were very high; historians estimate that about half and best-known painters in Florence in the late 15th cen- of all children died before they were ten years old. Un- tury—Michelangelo trained in his workshop—and this der these harsh conditions, families were especially pleased work was almost certainly commissioned by a wealthy to have a healthy boy who could continue the family name Florentine family of that era. and help sustain the family economically on reaching Art of the time was moving beyond strictly religious adulthood and for whom no dowry would be needed. But subject matter. This painting can be considered an early a healthy girl could also help with domestic chores and psychological portrait, with a bit of landscape included in raised the prospect of creating advantageous new links the window at the upper right. Its main theme seems to between families through marriage. be bonding across the generations. Ghirlandaio pro- So, what about the grandfather’s nose? Evidently, vides visual clues suggesting a comfortable intimacy he had a rhinophyma, a cosmetically disfiguring but oth- between the older man and the boy: their chests touch, erwise benign condition thought to be the end stage of the man’s embracing left arm is reciprocated by the rosacea, a common facial dermatosis. Although the man’s boy’s left hand resting on his chest, and the man’s kindly head may be tilted at a relatively flattering angle, his de- downward gaze is returned by the boy’s attentive look formed proboscis is still right in the center of the pic- up at him. ture. It is thus a stark example of the shift during the Re- In his book on the family (Della Famiglia), Renais- naissance away from the idealized, generic human faces sance author Leon Battista Alberti wrote “...everyone typical of earlier religious art toward the more natural- says that small children are the comfort and delight of istic, distinctive faces of real individuals—warts and all. their fathers and of the old people of the family.”1 Broader social factors also contributed to the high value placed Thomas Koepsell, MD, MPH on children. In contrast to the grace and sophistication Seattle, Wash of Renaissance art, medicine and public health of the time were primitive. Periodic epidemics of plague decimated 1. Alberti LB. The Family in Renaissance Florence. Watkins RN, trans-ed. Co- cities, wiping out much of the work force and threaten- lumbia: University of South Carolina Press; 1969:50. (REPRINTED) ARCH PEDIATR ADOLESC MED/ VOL 156, OCT 2002 WWW.ARCHPEDIATRICS.COM 966 ©2002 American Medical Association. All rights reserved..

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Domenico Ghirlandaio 1 Domenico Ghirlandaio
Domenico Ghirlandaio 1 Domenico Ghirlandaio Domenico Ghirlandaio Supposed self-portrait, from Adoration of the Magi, 1488 Birth name Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi Born 11 January 1449Florence, Italy Died 11 January 1494 (aged 45)Florence, Italy (buried in the church of Santa Maria Novella) Nationality Italian Field Painter Movement Italian Renaissance Works Paintings in: Church of Ognissanti, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Trinita, Tornabuoni Chapel in Florence and Sistine Chapel, Rome Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 – 11 January 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Among his many apprentices was Michelangelo. Biography Early years Ghirlandaio's full name is given as Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi. The occupation of his father Tommaso Bigordi and his uncle Antonio in 1451 was given as "'setaiuolo a minuto,' that is, dealers of silks and related objects in small quantities." He was the eldest of six children born to Tommaso Bigordi by his first wife Mona Antonia; of these, only Domenico and his brothers and collaborators Davide and Benedetto 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.[1] Domenico was at first apprenticed to a jeweller or a goldsmith, most likely his own father. The nickname "Il Ghirlandaio" (garland-maker) came to Domenico from his father, a goldsmith who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like necklaces worn by Florentine women. In his father's shop, Domenico is said to have made portraits of the passers-by, and he was eventually apprenticed to Alessio Baldovinetti to study painting and mosaic.
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Title a New Proposal on the Chronological Order of the Moses
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Domenico Ghirlandaio [PDF]
Domenico Ghirlandaio Oil Paintings Domenico Ghirlandaio [Italy, 1449 - 1494] An Old Man and His Grandson classical painting Oil Painting ID: 25447 | Order the painting Not Found Not Found Oil Painting ID: 25448 | Order the painting Adoration of the Magi for the Spedale degli Innocenti classical painting Oil Painting ID: 25449 | Order the painting Not Found Not Found Oil Painting ID: 25450 | Order the painting Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni Oil Painting ID: 25451 | Order the painting 1/3 Christ in Heaven with Four Saints and a Donor 25452-Christ in Heaven with Four Saints and a Donor.jpg Oil Painting ID: 25452 | Order the painting Not Found Not Found Oil Painting ID: 25453 | Order the painting Announcement of Death to St Fina 25454-Announcement of Death to St Fina.jpg Oil Painting ID: 25454 | Order the painting Not Found Not Found Oil Painting ID: 25455 | Order the painting Adoration of the Magi classical painting Oil Painting ID: 25456 | Order the painting Total 8 pages, 1/8 | Page : [1] 2 3 4 5 Ghirlandaio, Domenico (Nationality : Italy, 1449 - 1494) Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 - 11 January 1494) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Among his many apprentices was Michelangelo. Ghirlandaio's full name is given as Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi; it appears, therefore, that his father's surname was Curradi and his grandfather's Bigordi. Domenico, the eldest of eight children, was at first apprenticed to a jeweller or a goldsmith, most likely his own father. The nickname "Il Ghirlandaio" (garland-maker) came to Domenico from his father, a goldsmith who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like necklaces worn by Florentine women.
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