Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
Quick Summary
Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects is a foundational work in art history, published in two editions in 1550 and 1568. This book is a collection of biographies of Italian Renaissance artists, offering a critical history of Western art. Vasari, himself a painter and architect, structured his narrative around three periods: classical antiquity, a decline during the Dark Ages, and a subsequent renaissance of the arts in Tuscany starting in the 14th century with artists like Cimabue and Giotto, culminating in Michelangelo.1
Vasari's writing style is anecdotal and engaging, though he sometimes filled factual gaps with unverified information and showed a clear bias towards Tuscan art. Despite these limitations, The Lives is considered a pioneering example of modern historiography, establishing the canon of Italian Renaissance artists and influencing popular perceptions of art history to this day. The work also elevated the lives of artists as a distinct literary genre.12
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Fra AngelicoLegacy…his section on Angelico in Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Painters, Sculptors, & Architects, was largely inaccurate in his biographical data but correctly situated Fra Angelico in the framework of the Renaissance.
Read More…his section on Angelico in Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Painters, Sculptors, & Architects, was largely inaccurate in his biographical data but correctly situated Fra Angelico in the framework of the Renaissance.
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Albrecht DürerFinal works…artist Giorgio Vasari, in whose Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors, the importance of Albrecht Dürer, the “truly great painter and creator of the most beautiful copper engravings,” is repeatedly stressed. Like most notable Italian artists, Dürer probably felt himself to be an “artist-prince,” and his…
Read More…artist Giorgio Vasari, in whose Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors, the importance of Albrecht Dürer, the “truly great painter and creator of the most beautiful copper engravings,” is repeatedly stressed. Like most notable Italian artists, Dürer probably felt himself to be an “artist-prince,” and his…
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Domenico GhirlandaioEarly life and training…Giorgio Vasari recorded in his Lives (1550) that Ghirlandaio was a pupil of the Florentine painter Alesso Baldovinetti. Ghirlandaio preferred to work in fresco on large wall surfaces, but he used smaller-scale paintings executed on wood panels for the altarpieces of the chapels that housed his fresco cycles. He never…
Read More…Giorgio Vasari recorded in his Lives (1550) that Ghirlandaio was a pupil of the Florentine painter Alesso Baldovinetti. Ghirlandaio preferred to work in fresco on large wall surfaces, but he used smaller-scale paintings executed on wood panels for the altarpieces of the chapels that housed his fresco cycles. He never…
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