GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico
(b. 1449, Firenze, d. 1494, Firenze)

Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple (detail)

1486-90
Fresco
Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

The two old men and the semi-naked figure on the right were used by Ghirlandaio to fill an empty space in the composition. But he used this weakness to present the observer with a successful depiction of a male nude who has nothing to do with the event depicted. The wooden flask on the elegantly lit flight of steps reappears in two panel paintings the artist produced of the Adoration (in the Sassetti Chapel and the Uffizi).




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