DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51584#0152
148 EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
fresco who had yet appeared, and his colours have
stood extremely well to this day.
Another characteristic which renders Ghirlandajo
very interesting as an artist, was his diligent and
progressive improvement; every successive pro-
duction was better than the last. He was also an
excellent worker in mosaic, which, from its dura-
bility, he used to call “ pamting for eternity.”
To his rare and various accomplishments as an
artist, Ghirlandajo added the most amiable qualities
as a man.—qualities which obtained him the love
as well as the admiration of his fellow-citizens. He
was, says Vasari, “ the delight of the age in which
he lived.” He was still in the prime of life and in
the full possession of conscious power—so that he
was heard to wish they would give him the walls all
round the city to cover with frescoes—when he was
seized with sudden illness, and died, at the age of
forty-four, to the infinite grief of his numerous
scholars, by whom he was interred, with every de-
monstration of mournful respect, in the church of
Santa Maria Novella, in the year 1495. His two
brothers, Davide and Benedetto, were also painters,
and assisted him in the execution of his great works ;
and his son Ridolfo Ghirlandajo became after-
wards an excellent artist, but he belongs to a later
period.
Ghirlandajo formed many scholars, among them
fresco who had yet appeared, and his colours have
stood extremely well to this day.
Another characteristic which renders Ghirlandajo
very interesting as an artist, was his diligent and
progressive improvement; every successive pro-
duction was better than the last. He was also an
excellent worker in mosaic, which, from its dura-
bility, he used to call “ pamting for eternity.”
To his rare and various accomplishments as an
artist, Ghirlandajo added the most amiable qualities
as a man.—qualities which obtained him the love
as well as the admiration of his fellow-citizens. He
was, says Vasari, “ the delight of the age in which
he lived.” He was still in the prime of life and in
the full possession of conscious power—so that he
was heard to wish they would give him the walls all
round the city to cover with frescoes—when he was
seized with sudden illness, and died, at the age of
forty-four, to the infinite grief of his numerous
scholars, by whom he was interred, with every de-
monstration of mournful respect, in the church of
Santa Maria Novella, in the year 1495. His two
brothers, Davide and Benedetto, were also painters,
and assisted him in the execution of his great works ;
and his son Ridolfo Ghirlandajo became after-
wards an excellent artist, but he belongs to a later
period.
Ghirlandajo formed many scholars, among them