Domenico Ghirlandaio

(1449 - January 11, 1494)

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 - January 11, 1494) was a renowned Florentine Renaissance painter, a contemporary of Botticelli and Filippino Lippi. His many apprentices included 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 renowned 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.