파일:Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son.jpg

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

Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son 1486-90 Fresco Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

The Birth of St John the Baptist and the Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son can be found on the second level of the right wall.

Ghirlandaio has made this composition animated by the unusual device of placing the most important group of people, who are standing around Zacharias, off centre. This means that the baby John is in the centre directly under the middle pilaster. The open loggia architecture with a view onto a landscape in the background is not connected with the events in the picture. It is possible that it was added, as a backdrop, late in the production of the work.

Ghirlandaio places the seated priest Zacharias in front of a magnificent loggia which opens out onto an extensive landscape. Vasari writes how Zacharias, "whose spirit is undaunted although he is still mute, expresses amazement that a son has been born to him, and while they ask him what name to give his son, he writes on his knees - all the while staring at his son, who is held by a woman kneeling reverently before him - forming with a pen on paper the words 'His name will be John', to the astonishment of many of the other figures, who seem to be wondering whether this could be true or not."

There exists a <A onclick="return OpenOther('/html/g/ghirland/domenico/9drawing/2novell3.html')" HREF="/html/g/ghirland/domenico/9drawing/2novell3.html">preparatory drawing</A> for the scene showing St John's naming, in which the two secondary female figures on the far right were sketched. Neither of them play a part in the narrative, but guide us via the figure seen from behind on the right, where this scene borders the birth scene, into the pictorial fields and, by means of the direction they are gazing in, draw the attention of the picture's observer to the central event taking place, the naming. At the same time, the two women exist as independent optical sensations. They decorate the pictorial field like a frame, a harmonious group that is pleasant to look at. Ghirlandaio drew the same young woman seen from two different points of view, from the front and behind, just as they then appeared on the fresco.

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Author: GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico Title: Zacharias Writes Down the Name of his Son Time-line: 1451-1500 School: Italian Form: painting