other Saints,” in the Badia of Volterra; the “Adoration of the Magi,” in the church of the Innocenti (already mentioned), perhaps his finest panel-picture (1488); and the “Visitation,” in the Louvre, bearing the latest ascertained date (1491) of all his works. Ghirlandajo did not often attempt the nude; one of his pictures of this character, “Vulcan and his Assistants forging Thunderbolts,” was painted for Lo Spedaletto, but (like several others specified by Vasari) it exists no longer. Two portraits by him are in the National Gallery, London. The mosaics which he produced date before 1491; one, of especial celebrity, is the “Annunciation,” on a portal of the cathedral of Florence.
In general artistic attainment Ghirlandajo may fairly be regarded as exceeding all his precursors or competitors; though the names of a few, particularly Giotto, Masaccio, Lippo Lippi and Botticelli, stand higher for originating power. His scheme of composition is grand and decorous; his chiaroscuro excellent, and especially his perspectives, which he would design on a very elaborate scale by the eye alone; his colour is more open to criticism, but this remark applies much less to the frescoes than the tempera-pictures, which are sometimes too broadly and crudely bright. He worked in these two methods alone—never in oils; and his frescoes are what the Italians term “buon fresco,” without any finishing in tempera. A certain hardness of outline, not unlike the character of bronze sculpture, may attest his early training in metal work. He first introduced into Florentine art that mixture of the sacred and the profane which had already been practised in Siena. His types in figures of Christ, the Virgin and angels are not of the highest order; and a defect of drawing, which has been often pointed out, is the meagreness of his hands and feet. It was one of his maxims that “painting is designing.” Ghirlandajo was an insatiate worker, and expressed a wish that he had the entire circuit of the walls of Florence to paint upon. He told his shop-assistants not to refuse any commission that might offer, were it even for a lady’s petticoat-panniers: if they would not execute such work, he would. Not that he was in any way grasping or sordid in money-matters, as is proved by the anecdote of the readiness with which he gave up a bonus upon the stipulated price of the Ricci chapel frescoes, offered by the wealthy Tornabuoni in the first instance, but afterwards begrudged. Vasari says that Ghirlandajo was the first to abandon in great part the use of gilding in his pictures, representing by genuine painting any objects supposed to be gilded; yet this does not hold good without some considerable exceptions—the high lights of the landscape, for instance, in the “Adoration of the Shepherds,” now in the Florence Academy, being put in in gold. Many drawings and sketches by this painter are in the Uffizi gallery, remarkable for vigour of outline. One of the great glories of Ghirlandajo is that he gave some early art-education to Michelangelo, who cannot, however, have remained with him long. F. Granacci was another of his pupils.
This renowned artist died of pestilential fever on the 11th of January 1494, and was buried in S. Maria Novella. He had been twice married, and left six children, three of them being sons. He had a long and honourable line of descendants, which came to a close in the 17th century, when the last members of the race entered monasteries. It is probable that Domenico died poor; he appears to have been gentle, honourable and conscientious, as well as energetically diligent.
The biography of Ghirlandajo is carefully worked out in Crowe and Cavalcaselle’s book. A recent German work on the subject is that of Ernst Steinmann (1897). See also Codex Escurialensis, ein Skizzenbuch aus der Werkstatt Domenico Ghirlandaios (texts and plates), by Chr. Hülsen, Adolf Michaelis and Hermann Egger in the Sonderschriften des österr. archäol. Instituts in Wien (2 vols., 1906), and cf. T. Ashby in Classical Quarterly (April 1909). (W. M. R.)
GHIRLANDAJO, RIDOLFO (1483–1560), son of Domenico
Ghirlandajo, Florentine painter, was born on the 14th of February
1483, and, being less than eleven years old when his father died,
was brought up by his uncle David. To this second-rate artist
he owed less in the way of professional training than to Granacci,
Piero di Cosimo and perhaps Cosimo Rosselli. It has been said
that Ridolfo studied also under Fra Bartolommeo, but this is
not clearly ascertained. He was certainly one of the earliest
students of the famous cartoons of Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo. His works between the dates 1504 and 1508
show a marked influence from Fra Bartolommeo and Raphael,
with the latter of whom he was on terms of familiar friendship;
hence he progressed in selection of form and in the modelling
and relief of his figures. Raphael, on reaching Rome in 1508,
wished Ridolfo to join him; but the Florentine painter was of a
particularly home-keeping humour, and he neglected the opportunity.
He soon rose to the head of the Florentine oil-painters
of his time; and, like his father, accepted all sorts of commissions,
of whatever kind. He was prominent in the execution of vast
scenic canvases for various public occasions, such as the wedding
of Giuliano de’ Medici, and the entry of Leo X. into Florence
in 1515. In his prime he was honest and conscientious as an
artist; but from about 1527 he declined, having already accumulated
a handsome property, more than sufficient for maintaining
in affluence his large family of fifteen children, and his works
became comparatively mannered and self-repeating. His sons
traded in France and in Ferrara; he himself took a part in commercial
affairs, and began paying some attention to mosaic work,
but it seems that, after completing one mosaic, the “Annunciation”
over the door of the Annunziata, patience failed him for
continuing such minute labours. In his old age Ridolfo was
greatly disabled by gout. He appears to have been of a kindly,
easy-going character, much regarded by his friends and patrons.
The following are some of his leading works, the great majority of them being oil-pictures:—
“Christ and the Maries on the road to Calvary,” now in the Palazzo Antinori, Florence, an early example, with figures of half life-size. An “Annunciation” in the Abbey of Montoliveto near Florence, Leonardesque in style. In 1504, the “Coronation of the Virgin,” now in the Louvre. A “Nativity,” very carefully executed, now in the Hermitage, St Petersburg, and ascribed in the catalogue to Granacci. A “Predella,” in the oratory of the Bigallo, Florence, five panels, representing the Nativity and other subjects, charmingly finished. In 1514, on the ceiling of the chapel of St Bernard in the Palazzo Pubblico, Florence, a fresco of the “Trinity,” with heads of the twelve apostles and other accessories, and the “Annunciation”; also the “Assumption of the Virgin, who bestows her girdle on St Thomas,” in the choir loft of Prato cathedral. Towards the same date, a picture showing his highest skill, replete with expression, vigorous life, and firm accomplished pictorial method, now in the gallery of the Uffizi, “St Zenobius resuscitating a child”; also the translation of the remains of the same Saint. The “Virgin and various saints,” at S. Pier Maggiore, Pistoja. In 1521, the “Pietà,” at S. Agostino, Colle di Valdelsa, life-sized. Towards 1526, the “Assumption,” now in the Berlin Museum, containing the painter’s own portrait. An excellent portrait of “Cosimo de’ Medici” (the Great) in youth. In 1543, a series of frescoes in the monastery of the Angeli. In the National Gallery, London, is “The Procession to Calvary.” A great number of altar-pieces were executed by Ghirlandajo, with the assistance of his favourite pupil, currently named Michele di Ridolfo. Another of his pupils was Mariano da Pescia. (W. M. R.)
GHOR, or Ghur, an ancient kingdom of Afghanistan. The
name of Ghor was in the middle ages, and indeed locally still is,
applied to the highlands east of Herat, extending eastward
to the upper Helmund valley, or nearly so. Ghor is the southern
portion of that great peninsula of strong mountain country
which forms the western part of modern Afghanistan. The
northern portion of the peninsula was in the middle ages comprehended
under the names of Gharjistān (on the west), and
Juzjānā (on the east), whilst the basin of the Herat river, and all
south of it, constituted Ghor. The name as now used does not
include the valley of the Herat river; on the south the limit
seems to be the declivity of the higher mountains dominating
the descent to the lower Helmund, and the road from Farah
to Kandahar. It is in Ghor that rise all those affluents of the
closed basin of Seistan, the Hari-rud, the Farah-rud, the Khash-rud,
besides other considerable streams joining the Helmund
above Girishk.
Ghor is mentioned in the Shahnama of Firdousi (A.D. 1010), and in the Arab geographers of that time, though these latter fail in details almost as much as we moderns, thus indicating how little accessible the country has been through all ages. Ibn Hauḳal’s map of Khorasan (c. 976) shows Jibāl–al-Ghūr, “the
