What digital photography isn't

Greetings! Several artists have written to suggest that the massive growth of digital photography might be de-popularizing fine art. While reports of the decline of painting are suspect, protestors have a point. "Digital photography," said one writer, "is using up everyone's creative energy." The stats are impressive. Last year, one billion mobile phones with cameras were sold around the world. One third of the world's population now owns a digital camera. Facebook alone reports 300 million uploaded photos per day. The recent Queen's Diamond Jubilee resulted in the production of more than 1.3 billion photos. Fact is, people are snapping at unprecedented rates and not taking much time to look and see. "The medium has eclipsed the moment," says journalist Erin Anderssen. Unlike the scrapbooks of old, the tsunami of imagery remains, for the most part, ephemeral. Its commonality contrasts with the relative scarcity of paintings. Paintings are handmade. Unlike the old Kodak ad, "You press the button, we do the rest," paintings take hours or even days of contemplation and hard-won private process. The art of painting can be an "event" that is felt by the viewer.  Paintings are distinguished by texture. Texture is a mark of integrity and passion that the digital world has not yet mastered. Fine artists abandon texture at their peril. Paintings are tangible. They don't float in clouds. Paintings have pride of place in prestigious museums and noble homes. Framed for strategic walls and inner sanctums, paintings become the love-objects of our lives. Paintings, like bars of gold, are assets of investment and hoarding; a treasury that may span generations. "Artists," noted Salvador Dali, "are manufacturers of wealth." Unlike the grinning and contrived poses snapped at barbeques, or the mug-shot of an uncle whose schnoz is memorable but whose name you've forgotten, paintings are true connections with a singular and real person. That person is you. When people collect art, they also collect the maker. Best regards, Robert PS: "The irony is that having a photo doesn't mean you're going to remember. It only feels like you have a vast repository of memories. A number of photos prompt a certain kind of forgetting." (Martin Hand, sociologist, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada--author of "Ubiquitous Photography") Esoterica: Paintings can convey the slowing down, the trance and miracle of human life. Collectors love this understanding. As a perpetrator of both the reality and the illusion, it's lovely for you too. Recently, one of my staunchest collectors had me to his home as a guest, along with many others. While admiring the human scenery, controlling my desire to distantly snap digitals of some of the more rococo faces, I overheard our host confide to another guest, "I've actually got the best work he ever did. He did this one while freezing in a tent at ten thousand feet." While the guy was mildly wrong on both counts, I couldn't help being impressed with the brilliance of our profession. Current Clickback: "Your easel, your altar" looks at how we feel standing or sitting before our easels. Your comments will be appreciated.    Read this letter online and share your thoughts about digital photography and painting. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com    The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show.    The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge.    The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator.    If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email.    You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter    Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

From time to time I am reminded of my journey with unhealthy thinking patterns.  It seems we have to spend a lot of time re programming ourselves and deleting the old tapes that run amok sometimes in our heads to claim some happiness in this world.  I have learned a thing or two from our cat, Mr. Bingley, a creature of 'pure being'.  He just eats, sleeps, grooms and hunts for amusement all day.  Of course he has what I presume is little self-awareness and no sense of his own mortality...and does not ask himself existential questions, so he has little need for worry or anxiety.  


I am reminded of the Scripture passage... 

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?


²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

It seems that Mr. Bingley can show me a thing or two about living....

Your easel, your altar

Greetings! The American architect and author Anthony Lawlor looks at rooms as containers for the elevation of the human spirit. The kitchen, for example, is a sacred place where raw foods are transformed by the alchemy of heat into sustenance and delicacy. Bedrooms are sanctuaries for the mysterious transformations of sleeping and loving. Bathrooms are closed retreats of personal cleanliness and hygiene. Apart from perhaps the nursery, nothing compares to the remarkable container known as the studio. Here is a sanctuary where mere materials are transformed into objects of beauty. Like the laboratory, the studio is a domain of imaginative possibilities--as near to "creation" as mankind is likely to go. At the center of most studios is a piece of furniture called the easel. Whether simple and humble or complex and magnificent, it is at this unit that the creator sets her forces in motion. You might pause to consider how blessed are we who daily stand or sit before the easel. Ideally, it should be a strong object, so it can be pushed hard against, or be made to hold rock-steady during our more delicate passages. The easel needs to be well lit from above so those born on it can be properly examined, pampered and reconsidered. The easel is an altar to productivity. Traditional altars have been places of worship and sacrifice, and the studio easel is no exception. He who would do well at one must respect and honour the gods of quality, truth, composition, imagination, pattern, perspective, story, drawing, colour, fantasy and flair. To stand or sit at one, even in play, you need to prepare yourself for labour. The easel is also a place of sacrifice. Substandard passages or whole works are summarily struck down at this often troubling altar--but rebirth is its usual fruit. Both honour and responsibility go with your easel, your altar. Best regards, Robert PS: "For thousands of years, much of humankind has believed that only special places are infused with the sacred and that you must get away from the everyday in order to find it. Not so, everything is infused with the holy--from chairs to clothing to kitchen stoves." (Anthony Lawlor) Esoterica: While I've built, bought, worn out, and rejected countless outdoor easels and boxes, my studio easel is home-built and has been with me for a lifetime. My dad and I built it in 1974. I've sometimes looked at more sophisticated cranking and tilting models, but I've always come back to this one. Maybe it's the spirit of Dad in its rugged design, the Luddite way it holds onto my paintings, or the patina from my cigar-smoking days that keeps it in its place. But maybe it's the tradition. I've made a lot of art on it, and rejected a lot as well. It's been a life together--this easel and me. I guess you could say I've fallen in love with it. FYI, we've put a photo of my easel at the top of the current clickback. Current Clickback: "Signing and dating" looks at the best way to sign your work. Your comments will be appreciated.    Read this letter online and share your thoughts on sitting or standing before the easel. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com    The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show.    The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge.    The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator.    If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email.    You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter    Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

Emilia Castañeda

Mark Chadwick

Beautiful Painting!

Signing and dating

Greetings! Yesterday, Marjorie Moeser of Toronto, ON, Canada, wrote, "I sometimes place my signature to the left at the bottom because it suits the composition better than having it on the right. I try to make the signature inconspicuous. Mostly I sign in black, but sometimes white or a neutral tone. But I've done paintings that seem to say "no" to a signature up front. So, I omit it, opting for signing on the back. What is your advice? Also, what about dating?" Thanks, Marjorie. I'm a member of a party who thinks signatures should be clear, consistent and pretty well always in the same place--lower right. There are times when lower left is okay too. Further, if the style of signature is consistent, the colour of the signature can often be harmonized or integrated into the painting, as you suggest. My advice to most artists is "unobtrusive but clear." While the unique style and painterly quality of your painting is more important than your signature, a good reason for putting a signature on the front is in the interest of the observer. People love to be right. If someone sees a "Joe Bloggs" from across the room and says, "That looks like a Joe Bloggs," and moving closer, sees the signature "Joe Bloggs," then this observer confirms his brilliant connoisseurship by merely recognizing the Bloggsian style. Leaving the signature off the front of a painting may be okay for internationally-famous iconic artists whose style is so recognizable that anyone who didn't know who was responsible for the work might be considered a knuckle-dragging Philistine. Dating is another matter. For artists who regularly exhibit in commercial galleries and switch their work around from time to time, the date needs to be left off both the front and the back. That way the art remains "new." I've had ten-year-old paintings with more exposure than Mitt Romney's dog arrive at a new gallery and quickly find a discriminating collector. If the work had borne a stale date people might think it substandard for being so long an orphan. The exceptions to the no-dating advice are commissioned portraits and work executed at events needing to be memorialized. Similarly, do not sign "dogs." Put them on the roof of the car and take them to the dump.    Best regards, Robert PS: "In those days he was wiser than he is now--he used frequently to take my advice." (Winston Churchill) Esoterica: Signing and dating is not often covered by the "how to" art books. Perhaps that's why these questions come up so frequently. It's valuable to make a note of the date, however. I have this and other info put on a file card and filed alphabetically by title. That way it's always available when people inquire. Since the advent of the Internet, collectors seem to want more provenance. As well, you need to think of the future. What, when, where, why and how may be of interest to latter-day students and researchers. Speaking of books, we're constantly refreshing our oft-visited "Books on Artist's Shelves." Please feel free to add your own current favourites. Current Clickback: "How to give advice" looks at the best way to give advice. Your comments will be appreciated.    Read this letter online and share your thoughts on signing and dating your work. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com    The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show.    The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge.    The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator.    If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email.    You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Marjorie Moeser is at moemar98@hotmail.com     Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

Seems obvious?  

Frans Snyders and Peter Paul Rubens, Ceres and Pan, c. 1615

From the Museo del Prado:

As goddess of the Earth and agriculture, Ceres is depicted wearing a bundle of wheat spikes on her head. Beside her, Pan, the god of shepherds and herds, has a crown of oak leaves. Ceres symbolizes cultivated nature and Pan, wild nature. The horn of plenty and basket of fruit in their laps alludes to the fecundity and fertility of the Earth, which is strengthened by the fruit and vegetables strewn around them.

This is one of the many occasions when Rubens and Snyders worked together. The figures are by the former, who left the rendering of the fruit and vegetables to Snyders, a specialist in still life painting.

This work was made in the early teens of the seventeenth century, in the period of maximum collaboration between the two artists. It was brought to Spain by Rubens when he traveled there in 1628, as a present to Felipe IV.

Patti Smith, Chelsea Hotel, 1971, Richard Gahr

Favourite artist of mine!

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Dead Bird, 1800

crochet playground by Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam

Exposure it is one of the larger, more adventurous works by Antony Gormley, a combination of art and engineering. The structure (25.5m and weighing 60 tonnes) has as final destination Lelystad in Holland.

Maurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876 – 1958) The Harvest

Steven Nederveen

By blurring the lines between photograph and painting, Nederveen develops a magical realism that inspires us to see the world with new eyes. By distressing and aging the work he creates the sense of past and present; of struggle and transformation. A glass-like layer of resin coats each piece, enhancing the clarity of the image and reflecting the viewer into the work.

Michael Chase

How to give advice

Greetings! Recent emails asking for advice prompted me to give further thought to the business of giving advice. Believe me, I'm deeply honoured when people trust me with a half dozen jpegs and the question, "What do you think?" Further, it's exciting to know that some subscribers are getting valuable advice from other subscribers. As noted by "Buttonwood" in The Economist magazine, "If you ask enough people you will eventually find someone who will tell you what you want to hear." Recent studies show investment gurus make big bucks telling investors what stocks to buy, sell and hold. I've always suspected that these advisors make more dough by advising than by investing. We artists often give advice for free. Because of the unpredictable nature of life, humans may be hard-wired to ask for advice. A few others may be hard-wired to give it. Some psychologists think the main benefit of getting advice is to avoid personal regret--if someone's advice is bad or disappointing, it's their fault, not yours. Funnily, many advice-seekers already know the answer to their questions. They just want to hear it from someone else. But they also know that experienced eyes can often see faults and weaknesses and may be in a position to suggest fixes. I advise advice-givers to follow the advice of the Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, generally know as Horace: "Whatever advice you give, be brief." 1.  "Your work is interesting." You're safe here because all work, even bad work, is interesting. 2.  "This part is excellent." There's always a good part in any painting, and this observation relaxes the receiver and permits you to home in on what you think they need to know. 3.  Now comes the part where you need to be of optimum value to the asker. Try to figure out the one main thing you think might truly be of use to them. It may be about composition, drawing, colour or whatever. Try to make your advice specific, illuminating and memorable. Don't confuse people with lesser concerns.    For what it's worth, that's my system. For the record, it would be great to hear your advice on the delicate art of advising.   Best regards, Robert PS: "Maybe you can't give advice to an artist." (Louise Nevelson) Esoterica: I often think the best advice is what I call "Osmotic advice." This is where casual remarks (particularly in workshops) are overheard and inadvertently soaked up. It helps if the remarks were intended for someone else, but in your private wisdom you secretly know it was intended for you. Here's an example from the great workshopper Tony van Hasselt: "The 's' curve can be found in the human form, in animals, plants, flowers, in anything alive. Keep the straight lines for structures, created from 'dead' materials." You can take that sort of raw gold into your studio and forge with it. Tens of thousands of specific gems like this one can be found in our Resource of Art Quotations. Current Clickback: "Downsizing" looks at cropping existing work. Your comments will be appreciated.    Read this letter online and share your thoughts on giving advice. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com    The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show.    The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge.    The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator.    If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email.    You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter    Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

http://chocye.tumblr.com/ http://chocye.com/

Wire Sculptures by David Oliveira

Sam Taylor-Wood

Portrait made using a single piece of thread and nails - by Kumi Yamashita

The Constellation series by New York based artist Kumi Yamashita is a series of portraits made entirely with a single piece of unbroken black thread meticulously wrapped around a sea of nails. Check out the rest of the piecesHERE

Anne Sudworth

Robert Mapplethorpe - Portrait of Artists; Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, 1983-86. Photograph on paper

Downsizing

Greetings! Yesterday, Alex Nodopaka of Lake Forest, California, USA, wrote, "What do you think about making art by cutting larger paintings into several pieces, and also cropping existing work slightly smaller? Also, what's the recommended way to do this?" Thanks, Alex. Very often, a large "mish-mash"--poorly composed or overly cluttered work--can have a better life by turning it into two or three smaller works. To get an idea of potential compositions within paintings, try moving frames of various sizes around in the offending work. Two "L" shaped cards are okay, too, but they don't always lead to the preferred standard sizes. Paintings often take on new strength and presence when they are even slightly cropped. For example, a 12" x 16" can often be downsized to 11" x 14" to good effect. A 24" x 30" can theoretically be turned into a 16" x 20", a couple of vertical 10"x 12"s and a pair of 8"x 10"s. While a laborious and time-consuming job, canvas can be removed from stretchers by pulling out all the staples and re-stretching on different stretchers. I prefer to mount canvas onto boards. You need to knife the canvas slightly larger than the proposed size. Excellent prepared boards with reversible heat-activated conservator's adhesive for this exact purpose are provided by various companies including Art Boards of Brooklyn, New York. You get everything hot in your kitchen oven and then roll the canvas down with a brayer. For smaller work I glue down with not-so-reversible acrylic medium. Some artists use one of the various carpenter's glues, but I don't recommend them. After cutting the canvas from the old stretcher I spread straight medium onto quarter-inch (or thicker) mahogany plywood cut to the required size. I press the canvas to the panel using a book press. (A couple of old Britannicas will do.) After the work has adhered to the panel, the overlapping canvas is knifed off and you have a fresh new painting. Give the back (and edges) a coat of thinned medium or varnish to help prevent warping. It's okay to go in and finesse your downsized work. Often, the new format suggests painterly opportunities you didn't see before. Sign and go. Best regards, Robert PS: "A well-composed painting is half done." (Pierre Bonnard) Esoterica: It's often a mystery why compositions get out of whack. A well-composed painting can be spotted from across a room and draw folks toward it. A mish-mash sends them on their way--no matter how well done its parts. Sometimes it's just a matter of too much space around some of the elements within the picture plane. In other cases the artist has lost control of the eye-control. While it's desirable to compose well to start with, cropping and downsizing are legitimate ploys. Knives, skill-saws and glues are treasured tools of aware artists. FYI, we've put some photos of the process in action at the top of the current clickback. Current Clickback: "Lessons from a shopaholic" looks at useful or not-so-useful compulsions. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on cropping existing work. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Alex Nodopaka is at russkigypsy@sbcglobal.net  Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

by-TAIYANGGUODU

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Le Lit.

Richard Phillips “Persia” 1996 Oil on linen 72 x 62 inches

Pablo Picasso was a world-reknown painter, sculptor and contemporary artist – one of the most influential figures of the art world in the 20th century, and founder of the cubist movement. His art ranges from the simplistic to the spectacular, and his peculiar view of the world is captured in this fascinating LIFE magazine series of 1949, “Pablo Picasso Draws with Light.”

Henry Lamb (British, 1885-1960). Portrait of Sir Cecil Beaton. Oil on canvas, signed and dated ‘35 UR.

sunny summer sunday

Jacket - Boglioli Trousers - Ralph Lauren

Shirt - Mastai Feretti Loafers - Gucci

Pocket Square - Rubinacci Belt - Anderson’s

Sunglasses - Han kjobenhavn

Domenico Ghirlandaio

From the Web Gallery of Art:

Given his large-scale projects, Ghirlandaio could scarcely be expected to carry out such altar paintings in person. This was also realized by his donors, for some of them wrote into the contracts that the works they were paying for had to be painted by him in person. For example, on 28 October 1485, the Francesco di Giovanni Tesori, the prior of an orphanage ordered a panel painting of the Adoration of the Magi from Ghirlandaio. The picture was intended for the main altar of the Spedale degli Innocenti, a foundling hospital. Fra Bernardo acted as the middleman and drew up a contract which made the following requirements: Ghirlandaio had to “colour the aforementioned panel himself, in the manner that can be seen on a paper drawing, with the figures and in the manner as depicted there, and in all details in accordance with what I, Fra Bernardo, consider to be best: he must not deviate from the manner and composition of the mentioned drawing.” In addition, the artist had to colour the panel at his own expense and use good quality paints. Even the quality of the particularly expensive blue colour was precisely laid down in the contract: the artist had to use “ultramarine costing 4 florins per ounce”. Ghirlandaio had to deliver the panel paintings after thirty months and would receive 115 large florins for it if the panel turned out to be worth the sum. The decision in that respect was in the hands of the contract’s middleman, and as he assured himself in the text: “I can obtain an opinion as to its value or artistic merit from whomever I please, and if it does not appear to be worth the fixed price, he [Ghirlandaio] will receive as much less as I, Fra Bernardo, consider to be appropriate.” Completed in 1488, the work, which delighted the middleman and client, is one of Ghirlandaio’s finest panel paintings. The artist received the agreed fee, together with additional funds for a predella with stories of the Virgin. The scenes of the predella are the work of one of Ghirlandaio’s pupils, Bartolommeo di Giovanni as confirmed by the records. The great cornice of the altarpiece had been executed by the carpenter Francesco Bartolo on designs by Giuliano da Sangallo.