Santi Stefano, Giacomo e Pietro

Ghirlandaio finished this in 1493, the last full year of his life, for a Florentine named Stefano Boni, who wanted three saints in his new chapel. The choice was personal. Saint Stephen in the centre was the patron's own name-saint, and the two flanking him, Peter and James, carried the names of his father and grandfather, so the altarpiece is quietly a family portrait dressed as scripture. Then the chapel changed hands. In the years after 1513 it was rededicated to Saint Jerome, and someone painted over Stephen to turn him into that saint instead. He stayed hidden until a restoration in the 19th century scraped the later work away and gave the patron his name-saint back.