Domenico Ghirlandaio: Paintings and Drawings (Electronic book text)

Domenico Ghirlandaio was one of the most popular Florentine artists of his time. He received his training in the workshop of Baldovinetti. Later, the work of Verrocchio in particular made an impression on him. Ghirlandaio's compositional representation was simultaneously imposing and respectable. His chiaroscuro, in the sense of realistic shading and three-dimensional images, was realistically superior, as were his perspectives, which he designed on a very elaborate scale by eye alone, without the use of sophisticated mathematics. A certain hardness of outline may show to his early training in metal work. Vasari states that Ghirlandaio was the first to abandon the use of ornamentation in his pictures, representing by genuine painting any objects supposed to be gilded. His drawings and sketches are considered particularly remarkable for their naturalistic vigor of outline. Ghirlandaio is commonly credited with having given some early art education to Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci.