The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist

The Ghirlandaio family produced one of the most renowned artistic dynasties in Florence. The name ‘ghirlandaio’, or garland-maker, derived from Domenico’s father, Tommaso Bigordi, a goldsmith noted for making headdresses for women in the shape of such garlands. Domenico’s son, Ridolfo, was by the mid-1510s, together with Fra Bartolomeo, one of the most successful artists in Florence, running a workshop to answer the high demand for commissions. His patrons included the Medici family, and he married Contessina di Giovanbatista di Bianco Deti in 1510, strengthening his ties with the most influential circles in the city. This panel may date from around the same time, the early part of the sixteenth century, when Ridolfo’s pictures showed a shift from the quattrocento style of his father and uncle, Davide Ghirlandaio, to a refined mannerist approach that was praised by Raphael, after the latter moved to Florence in 1504. In the mid-1520s he took on Michele Tosini as his pupil, the two forming a strong working relationship that meant Tosini, subsequently called Michele di Ridolfo by Vasari, took on a significant role in the workshop from the 1540s, eventually taking it over entirely.