Past Is Prologue

Domenico Ghirlandaio makes everything better

I had to work late on Monday so it wasn’t until I posted here that I learned about the horrific 5-4 Supreme Court decision regarding the gerrymandered maps in Alabama. Two district courts had thrown the maps out because, simply put, the maps are racist. But this illegitimate and regressive Supreme Court is determined to destroy the Voting Rights Act and set the clock back a hundred and fifty years. It’s maddening and demoralizing. So let’s take a break.

EMERGENCY ART

The summer before I started grad school at Columbia I traveled, first to England and Scotland. After spending a few days in my grandmother’s birthplace (a story for another time) I flew to Pisa and then took the train to Firenze. With the exception of a weekend in Verona I’d never been to Italy before. I didn’t know anybody and had no idea where I was going to stay. Once I left the train station I went in search of a cheap hotel. On the way I passed the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, for which the train station is named, and decided to go in, suitcase in hand, looking very much like an American tourist, which is usually something I try to avoid.

I walked through the nave in total awe of the sweeping arches, Masaccio’s Holy Trinity, and the stained glass windows, some by Filippino Lippi. I then continued on to the Cappella Tornabuoni and the fresco cycles created by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the late 15th century.

The Visitation, Domenico Ghirlandaio

These freschi depict the Life of the Virgin and the Life of St John the Baptist. Floodlights positioned to illuminate every inch of the paintings remained lit as long as you kept feeding them lira. I have no idea how many times I went back to Santa Maria Novella that summer. Sometimes I went to see the stained glass windows or the Cloisters, sometimes for the paintings of Giotto and Masaccio, but I always stopped at the Cappella Tornabuoni, my pockets stuffed with as many lira coins as I could afford (and, whenever possible, taking advantage of the light provided by other people’s money).

Ghirlandaio’s contemporaries considered him to be one of the best painters of his time. From his formal — almost austere —portraits to his remarkable attention to details and his use of color, there is no other painter of his generation who comes close to matching him. Part of his appeal, though, is his intimate knowledge of Florentine society and he often included portraits of his fellow citizens in his paintings.

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Not far from Santa Maria Novella (although nothing is really very far away from anything else on that side of the Arno river) is the small Church of the Ognissanti. Perched on a side-street in view of the Arno it is a place worth visiting for the paintings of Giotto and Botticelli alone, but it’s Ghirlandaio’s fresco of The Last Supper that’s the real reason to go.

Last Supper, Church of the Ognissanti—Domencio Ghirlandaio

Ghirlandaio painted a very similar fresco at the Basilica di San Marco where I ate in the Cloister almost every day after picking up food at a nearby open-air market. But I prefer the Last Supper in the Ognissanti. The colors are more muted, but the setting is naturalistic and more intimate. Then, of course, there’s the peacock.

Last Supper, detail—Domencio Ghirlandaio

More tomorrow. I hope these paintings help.