d on which the garland would rest.

But the making of garlands did not satisfy Domenico for long, and like
Botticelli he soon began to dream of becoming a painter.

You must remember that in those days goldsmiths and painters had much
in common, and often worked together. The goldsmith made his picture
with gold and silver and jewels, while the painter drew his with
colours, but they were both artists.

So as the young Ghirlandaio watched these men draw their great designs
and listened to their talk, he began to feel that the goldsmith's work
was cramped and narrow, and he longed for a larger, grander work. Day
by day the garlands were more and more neglected, and every spare
moment was spent drawing the faces of those who came to the shop, or
even those of the passers-by.

But although, ere long, Ghirlandaio left his father's shop and learned
to make pictures with colours, instead of with gold, silver, and
jewels, still the training he had received in his goldsmith's work
showed to the end in all his pictures. He painted the smallest things
with extreme care, and was never tired of spreading them over with
delicate ornaments and decorations. It is a great deal the outward show
with Ghirlandaio, and not so much the inward soul, that we find in his
pictures, though he had a wonderful gift of painting portraits.

These portraits painted by the young Ghirlandaio seemed very wonderful
to the admiring Florentines. From all his pictures looked out faces
which they knew and recognised immediately. There, in a group of
saints, or in a crowd of figures around the Infant Christ, they saw the
well-known faces of Florentine nobles, the great ladies from the
palaces, ay, and even the men of the market-place, and the poor peasant
women who sold eggs and vegetables in the streets. Once he painted an
old bishop with a pair of spectacles resting on his nose. It was the
first time that spectacles had ever been put into a picture.

Then off he must go to Rome, like every one else, to add his share to
the famous frescoes of the Vatican. But it was in Florence that most of
his work was done.

In the church of Santa Maria Novella there was a great chapel which
belonged to the Ricci family. It had once been covered by beautiful
frescoes, but now it was spoilt by damp and the rain that came through
the leaking roof. The noble family, to whom the chapel belonged, were
poor and could not afford to have the chapel repainted, but neither
w