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GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico (b. 1449, Firenze, d. 1494, Firenze) |
Bust-Length Woman Wearing a Coif1489-90Black chalk on cream-coloured paper, 366 x 221 mm Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth | |
This drawing was made by Domenico Ghirlandaio for the most important commission of his career: the decoration of the huge chancel of the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The decoration was commissioned by Giovanni Tornabuoni (1428-1497) in 1485. The present drawing is a preparatory for the mural of the Birth of Mary, which shows Tornabuoni's thirteen- or fourteen-year-old daughter Ludovica Tornabuoni with her entourage. The verso depicts a full-length woman standing and a faint sketch of a face. |
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