Saint Stephen painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio

Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, No. 4914
Tempera on wood, l91x56cm
Purchased from art dealers in Paris in 1914.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Colleagues,

This painting is one of the pictures from the right wing of a polyptych originally standing in S. Maria Novella since 1494. It was painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Saint Stephen is formed in the enchantment of a sculptural ideal and placed in a niche. He wears a deacon's robes. The stone lying in front of him and the bleeding wounds on his head are only a delicate reference to the first martyrdom in the history of Christianity. In contrast to the other surviving parts of the altarpiece, which are mainly the works of Ghirlandaio's pupils, this panel was without doubt executed by the master himself and was probably his last work.

Vasari wrote with admiration about the high altar of the church and our wing: "il S. Lorenzo ed il Santo Stefano che sono interamente vive". Until 1804 the altar stood in its original place, then it was dismembered and scattered in various collections all over Europe. The central piece is depicting the Madonna and saints in a ring of cherubs. The wings are portraying St. Catherine and St. Lawrence. These are now all in the Munich Alte Pinakothek. The Resurrection, which was, according to Vasari, originally on the back of the central panel and was completed by Ghirlandaio's brothers Benedetto and Davide, found its way from Florence to Berlin. The wings representing St. Vincent and St. Anthony were also in the Berlin Museum, but they were destroyed in the second world war in 1945. According to Vasari the now-demolished St. Anthony piece as well as the St. Catherine panel in Munich, was finished by Francesco Granacci and Jacopo del Tedesco.

One of the questions is who the patron of the altarpiece was? Giovanni Tornabuoni was a prominent Medicean. Brother-in-law of Pietro de'Medici, he had been employed in the Medici bank since 1443. In 1486 he acquired the patronage rights to the main chapel in S. Maria Novella, using his descent from Jacopo Tornaquinci to succeed in his claim over bids from rival patrons. Tornabuoni's patronage of the chapel was conspicuous and expensive. He completely refurbished the chapel, spending over 1,000 forints on costly intarsia choir stalls, stained glass windows, frescoes and the altarpiece. The double-sided altarpiece, flanked by saints in shell niches was probably commissioned in 1487 or 1488. Vasari's statement that the altarpiece was finished after the artist’s death is substantially correct, as recently discovered records indicate that the poliptych was installed in the chapel in May 1494, few months alter Ghirlandaio's death.

The appearance of the altar established by Giovanni Tornabuoni as well as its original positioning cannot be fully reconstructed nowadays since it was replaced by a new one in the 190^th century. According to Vasari, Domenico Ghirlandaio made a poliptych which stood freely in the Tornabuoni chapel so it could be observed from all sides. The altarpiece must have been a massive construction divided into sections by Corinthian columns and other elements taken from the classical Canon. Following Christian von Holst's reconstruction the saint Stephen panel was placed to the front side of the altar as the pair of the Saint Lawrence panel, together giving a frame to the central composition. In 1804 the poliptych was dismembered. In 1809 Lucien Bonaparte bought it and later it travelled to the collection of prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. The panel used to bear a painted inscription above the niche just like the other pieces of the poliptych. Unfortunately, this part was cut off before 1812, however, the text which praises the lapidated Saint as an invincible martyr survived.

Similarly to saint Lawrence, Saint Stephen wears a deacon's habit. Abandoning the rigid frontality, he turns his head right showing us his young face in profile. He is looking down, towards a lower point as if he was aiming at the kneeling figures of the central panel. There is a book in his left and a palm leaf symbolizing martyrdom in his right hand. This kind of depiction of Saint Stephen relies entirely on the imperative pictorial tradition of the Saint. A similar perception can be observed on Lorenzo Ghiberti's Saint Stephen statue in Orsanmichele. Their relationship is particularly visible on the ascetic, fragile figure and the narrow shoulders.

Christian von Holst rightfully accentuated that the picture had to be painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio himself since Saint Stephen's depiction is definitely the liveliest among all the panels of this altarpiece and it was possibly the prototype for the others. The spirited, vivacious features of the Saint's face also reinforce the latter judgement.

Thank you for your attention!