Santa Maria Novella   

As Santa Croce is the historical seat of the Franciscans, so Saint Maria Novella is the historical seat of the Dominicans, the two dominant religious orders in Florence. The great theologian Saint Tomas Aquinas taught here as well. The Gothic interior contains superb frescoes by Masaccio, Ghirlandaio and Filippino Lippi.

The life of John the Baptist 1485 by Ghirlandaio.

What's so unusual about this painting is that Ghirlandaio painted the biblical characters with Florentine aristocrats of the period in contemporary clothing. The fresco cycle is located in the Cappella Tornabuoni.