1448 or 9 Born in Florence.
1470s Admitted to the confraternity of S Paolo, probably as a Goldsmith.
1470–71 Frescoes in the church of the Ognissanti in Florence are probably Ghirlandaio's first major works.
1474 Completes frescoes in the apse of the south aisle of the cathedral of S Andrea, Cercina to the north of Florence.
1475–76 Travels to Rome for a prestigious commission to paint busts of Church Fathers and Classical Philosophers. Returns to Florence in the spring of 1476.
1477–78 Working in San Gimignano on a fresco cycle in the Collegiata Pieve.
c1480 Paints frescoes for the tomb of Francesca Tornabuoni in Rome his first commission for the Tornabuoni family who become his most important patrons.
1481-82 Ghirlandaio is again in Rome where (together with Botticelli, Perugino and Cosimo Rosselli) he is employed by Pope Sixtus IV on the fresco decoration of the walls of the newly completed Sistine Chapel. He paints the Calling of SS Peter and Andrew for which he is paid 250 ducats. A Resurrection was later destroyed.
1482-84 Working on frescoes in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence where he covered a large wall with a depiction of St Zenobius – the patron saint of Florence – beneath a triumphal arch.
1483-86 Works on frescoes in the Sassetti Chapel in Santa Trinita, Florence.
1485 Ghirlandaio is commissioned by Giovanni Tornabuoni to paint a fresco cycle of the Life of the Virgin and the Life of St John the Baptist in the family chapel in S Maria Novella, Florence.
1494 Dies in Florence.
1481-82 The Vocation of St Peter and St Andrew, Sistine Chapel, Rome
1483-85 Confirmation of the Franciscan Rule, Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita, Florence
1485 Adoration of the Shepherds, Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita, Florence
c1485 Portrait of an Old Man and Boy, Louvre, Paris
1487 Adoration of the Magi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
1489 Adoration of the Shepherds, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
1489-90 Birth of John the Baptist, Tornabuoni chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
1490 Annunciation to Zacchariah, Tornabuoni chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence.