Domenico Ghirlandaio | The Adoration of the Shepherds

Domenico Ghirlandaio stands as a titan of the Quattrocento, often overshadowed by his most famous student, Michelangelo, yet serving as the vital bridge between the early and high Italian Renaissance. As the head of a prolific family workshop, Ghirlandaio dominated the Florentine art market, capturing the spirit of the age by integrating wealthy patrons like the Medici and Tornabuoni directly into sacred biblical narratives. His mastery of fresco technique—skills he later passed to a young Michelangelo—graced the walls of the Sistine Chapel long before the ceiling was painted, establishing him as the premier visual chronicler of 15th-century Flor...