His next great frescoes were those in the Palazzo Vecchio and S.Trinita.It was in 1485 that he painted his delightful Adoration, at the Accademia, and in 1486 he began his great series at S.Maria Novella, finishing them in 1490, his assistants being his brother David, Benedetto Mainardi, who married Ghirlandaio's sister, and certain apprentices, among them the youthful Michelangelo, who came to the studio in 1488.
The story of the frescoes is this.

Ghirlandaio when in Rome had met Giovanni Tornabuoni, a wealthy merchant whose wife had died in childbirth.

Her death we have already seen treated in relief by Verrocchio in the Bargello.

Ghirlandaio was first asked to beautify in her honour the Minerva at Rome, where she was buried, and this he did.

Later when Giovanni Tornabuoni wished to present S.Maria Novella with a handsome benefaction, he induced the Ricci family, who owned this chapel, to allow him to re-decorate it, and engaged Ghirlandaio for the task.