Image Essay #2

A technique used by Domenico Ghirlandaio in The Birth of the Virgin is the triangular hierarchy. Much like the term hierarchy itself, triangular hierarchy stresses the importance of figures indicated by size or location in the artwork. In this particular painting, Ghirlandaio uses the shape of a triangle in his piece to depict, essentially, the most important figure. He does a great job of doing this by painting two figures consoling one another at the top left of the painting. As one may notice, these characters are not standing out in the art, rather guiding your eyes down to the other point of the triangle, where the painter placed the most important figure in the piece. In the background, there are intricate statues of angels up above the figures. The colors used outside of this invisible “triangle” are bland, taking your eye to the main focus of this piece of art.The central figure is Ludovica Tornabuoni, the daughter of the patron. She is the figure with the most status, so all of the events and people leading up to her make her stand out just that much more. The members of the Tornabuoni family are descending towards her figure, guiding the viewer’s eyes directly to Ludovica.