Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter and architect, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideological foundation of all art-historical writing, and still much cited in modern biographies of the many Italian Renaissance artists he covers, including Leonardo da Vinci and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

, although he is now regarded as including many factual errors, especially when covering artists from before he was born. Giorgio was a Mannerist painter who was highly regarded both as a painter and architect in his day, but rather less so in later centuries. He was effectively what would now be called the minister of Culture to the Medici court in Florence, and the ''Lives'' promoted, with enduring success, the idea of Florentine superiority in the visual arts. Vasari designed the ''Tomb of Michelangelo'', his hero, in the

Basilica of Santa Croce The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

, Florence that was completed in 1578. Based on Vasari's text in print about Giotto's new manner of painting as a ''rinascita'' (rebirth), author

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and an author on other topics whose major work was a history of France and its culture. His aphoristic style emphasized his anti-clerical republicanism. In Michelet's ...

in his ''Histoire de France'' (1835) suggested the adoption of Vasari's concept, using the term '' Renaissance'' (rebirth, in French) to distinguish the cultural change. The term was adopted thereafter in historiography and is still in use today.

Life

Vasari was born prematurely on 30 July 1511 in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

, Tuscany.Gaunt, W. (ed.) (1962) ''Everyman's dictionary of pictorial art. Volume II.'' London: Dent, p. 328. Recommended at an early age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of

Guglielmo da Marsiglia Guglielmo da Marsiglia (1475–1537) was an Italian painter of stained glass of the 16th century. He is also known as Guglielmo da Marcillat, and was a native of Dt. Michiel near Meuse, France. He created 3 windows in 1519 for the Cathedral o ...

, a skillful painter of

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. Sent to Florence at the age of sixteen by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, he joined the circle of

Andrea del Sarto Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces, ...

and his pupils, Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo Pontormo, where his humanist education was encouraged. He was befriended by

, whose painting style would influence his own. Vasari enjoyed high repute during his lifetime and amassed a considerable fortune. He married Niccolosa Bacci, a member of one of the richest and most prominent families of Arezzo. He was made Knight of the Golden Spur by the Pope. He was elected to the municipal council of his native town and finally, rose to the supreme office of gonfaloniere. He built a fine house in

in 1547 and decorated its walls and vaults with paintings. It is now a museum in his honour named the Casa Vasari, whilst his residence in Florence is also preserved. In 1563, he helped found the Florentine ''Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno'', with the Grand Duke and Michelangelo as ''capi'' of the institution. Thirty-six artists were chosen as members. He died on 27 June 1574 in Florence,

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany ( it, Granducato di Toscana; la, Magnus Ducatus Etruriae) was an Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In th ...

, aged 62.

Painting

Giorgio Vasari - Six Tuscan Poets - Google Art Project

In 1529, he visited Rome where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. Vasari's own Mannerist paintings were more admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547, he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni. He was regulalry employed by members of the

Medici family The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

in Florence and Rome. He also worked in Naples (for example on the

Vasari Sacristy The Vasari Sacristy (Italian - ''Sacrestia del Vasari'') or Old Sacristy (Italian - ''Sacrestia Vecchia'') is a room in Sant'Anna dei Lombardi, Naples, Italy, one of its two sacristies. It was the refectory of the Olivetan monastery of Santa Maria ...

), Arezzo, and other places. Many of his paintings still exist, the most important being on the wall and ceiling of the Sala di Cosimo I in the

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the City hall, town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David (Michelangelo), David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent ...

in Florence, where he and his assistants worked from 1555. Vasari also helped to organize the decoration of the

Studiolo A cabinet (also known by other terms) was a private room in the houses and palaces of early modern Europe serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his ...

, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio. Giorgio Vasari - The Garden of Gethsemane - Google Art Project

In Rome, he painted frescos in the ''Sala Regia''. Among his better-known pupils or followers are

Sebastiano Flori Sebastiano Flori (active 1545) was an Italian painter active in Rome and Umbria. Sebastiano was a pupil of Giorgio Vasari and he painted with him in the large frescoes in the Palazzo della Cancelleria The Palazzo della Cancelleria (Palace of the ...

, Bartolomeo Carducci,

Mirabello Cavalori Mirabello Cavalori (1535–1572) was an Italian painter of Mannerist style, active mainly in Florence. Cavalori was born in Salincorno, near Montefortino. He was a contemporary of Maso da San Friano and younger than Vasari. The latter painter ...

(Salincorno),

Stefano Veltroni Stefano Veltroni (16th century) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. He was a relation of Giorgio Vasari, and accompanied him as an assistant to Naples, Bologna, and Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Ita ...

(of Monte San Savino), and

Alessandro Fortori Alessandro Fortori (16th-century) was an Italian painter of the Mannerist period. He was born in Arezzo. He was one of the fellow painters from Arezzo, along with Bastiano Flori and Fra Salvatore Foschi, recruited to paint at sundry projects by ...

(of Arezzo). His last major commission was a vast '' The Last Judgement'' fresco on the ceiling of the cupola of the

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally c ...

that he began in 1572 with the assistance of the Bolognese painter

Lorenzo Sabatini Lorenzo Sabbatini or Sabatini, Sabattini or Sabadini (c. 1530–1576), sometimes referred to as Lorenzino da Bologna, was an Italian people, Italian painter of the Mannerist period from Bologna. Biography Sabbatini was born in Bologna and ...

. Unfinished at the time of Vasari's death, it was completed by Federico Zuccari.

Architecture

Aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was successful as an architect. His loggia of the Palazzo degli Uffizi by the Arno opens up the vista at the far end of its long narrow courtyard. It is a unique piece of urban planning that functions as a public piazza, and which, if considered as a short street, is unique as a Renaissance street with a unified architectural treatment. The view of the Loggia from the Arno reveals that, with the Vasari Corridor, it is one of very few structures lining the river that are open to the river and appear to embrace the riverside environment. In Florence, Vasari also designed the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, which connects the Uffizi with the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the river. The corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the Ponte Vecchio, and winds around the exterior of several buildings. It was once the location of the Mercado de Vecchio. He renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. In both buildings he removed the original

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...

and loft, and remodelled the retro- choirs in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he produced the painting of ''The Adoration of the Magi'' commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and completed in February 1567. It was restored recently, before being put on exhibition in 2011 in Rome and in Naples. Eventually, it will be returned to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo (Province of Alessandria, Piedmont). In 1562, Vasari built the octagonal dome on the

Basilica of Our Lady of Humility In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

, an important example of High Renaissance architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammannati at Pope Julius III's Villa Giulia.

''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects''

Often called "the first art historian", Vasari invented the genre of the encyclopedia of artistic biographies with his ''Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori'' (''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects''). This work was first published in 1550 and dedicated to Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici. Vasari introduced the term "Rinascita" (rebirth in Italian) in printed works – although an awareness of an ongoing "rebirth" in the arts had been in the air since the time of Alberti. Vasari's term, applied to the change in artistic styles with the work of Giotto, eventually would become the French term ''Renaissance'' (rebirth) widely applied to the era that followed. Vasari was responsible for the modern use of the term Gothic art, as well, although he only used the word ''Goth'' in association with the German style that preceded the rebirth, which he identified as "barbaric". The ''Lives'' also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was partly rewritten and extended in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists (some conjectural). Vite

The work shows a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, the invention of engraving. Venetian art in particular (along with arts from other parts of Europe), is ignored systematically in the first edition. Between his first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the second edition gave more attention to Venetian art (finally including Titian), it did so without achieving a neutral point of view. Many inaccuracies exist within his ''Lives''. For example, Vasari writes that Andrea del Castagno killed Domenico Veneziano, which is incorrect; Andrea died several years before Domenico. In another example, Vasari's biography of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, whom he calls "Il Soddoma", published only in the second edition of the ''Lives'' (1568) after Bazzi's death, condemns the artist as being immoral, bestial, and vain. Vasari dismisses Bazzi's work as lazy and offensive, despite the artist's having been named a ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by Pope Leo X and having received important commissions for the Villa Farnese and other sites. Vasari's biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip. Many of his anecdotes seem plausible, while others are assumed fictions, such as the tale of young Giotto painting a fly on the surface of a painting by Cimabue that supposedly, the older master repeatedly tried to brush away (a genre tale that echoes anecdotes told of the Greek painter

Apelles Apelles of Kos (; grc-gre, Ἀπελλῆς; fl. 4th century BC) was a renowned painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of this artist is owed (''Naturalis Historia'' 35.36.79–97 and ''passim'' ...

). He did carry out research archives for exact dates, as modern art historians do, and his biographies are considered more reliable in the case of his contemporary painters and those of the preceding generation. Modern criticism – with new materials produced by research – has revised many of his dates and facts. Vasari included a short autobiography at the end of the ''Lives'', and added further details about himself and his family in his lives of Lazzaro Vasari and

Francesco Salviati Francesco Salviati may refer to: * Francesco Salviati (bishop) Francesco Salviati Riario was the archbishop of Pisa_in_1474_and_one_of_the_organisers_of_the_717,_Pisan_and_on_31_July_1725_[1726,_Pisan A_special_assembly_(''conventus'')_was_held_i ...

. According to the historian Richard Goldthwaite,Richard Goldthwaite, ''The Economy of Renaissance Florence'', 2009, pg. 390. Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term "competition" (or "concorrenza" in Italian) in its economic sense. He used it repeatedly, and stressed the concept in his introduction to the life of Pietro Perugino, in explaining the reasons for Florentine artistic preeminence. In Vasari's view, Florentine artists excelled because they were hungry, and they were hungry because their fierce competition amongst themselves for commissions kept them so. Competition, he said, is "one of the nourishments that maintain them".

Gallery

File:Alessandro de Medici Ruestung.jpg, ''Alessandro de Medici resting'' File:Douai chartreuse vasari pieta.jpg, ''Pieta'' File:GIORGIO VASARI, JOANNES STRADANUS THE BIRD CATCHERS.jpg, ''Bird catchers'' File:Vasari, Giorgiodel Sarto, Andrea - Holy Family - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Holy Family'', with Andrea del Sarto File:Giorgio vasari, ultima cena, da ss. annunziata a figline, 1567-69, 04.JPG, ''Last Supper'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Entombment - WGA24277.jpg, ''Entombment'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Temptations of St Jerome - WGA24282.jpg, ''Temptations of St. Jerome'' File:Giorgio Vasari - St Luke Painting the Virgin - WGA24311.jpg, ''St. Luke painting the Virgin'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Annunciation - WGA24286.jpg, ''Annunciation'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Justice - WGA24280.jpg, ''Justice'' File:Giorgio Vasari - The Prophet Elisha - WGA24289.jpg, ''The Prophet Elisha'' File:Firenze-interno duomo.jpg, Interior of the dome of

File:Giorgio Vasari - Cosimo studies the taking of Siena - Google Art Project.jpg, Cosimo studies the taking of Siena. File:Giorgio Vasari - Apotheosis of Cosimo I - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Apotheosis of
Cosimo I'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Defeat of the Venetians in Casentino - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Defeat of the Venetians in Casentino'' Libro de' Disegni by Giorgio Vasari"> File:Page from "Libro de' Disegni"- 2.jpg, Giorgio Vasari with drawings by Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, and Raffaellino del Garbo File:Page from "Libro de' Disegni"- 1.jpg, Giorgio Vasari with drawings by Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, and Raffaellino del Garbo File:Florenz Uffizien.jpg, Uffizi colonnade and loggia File:Loge de Vasali a Arezzo.JPG, Loggia of Vasari in

File:005San-Pietro-in-Montorio-Rome.jpg, Pietro in Montorio, Rome File:9903 - Firenze - Santa Croce - Tomba di Michelangelo - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 28-Oct-2007.jpg, Tomb of Michelangelo File:Sala dei cento giorni - Giorgio Vasari - 1547 - Palazzo della Cancelleria 1.jpg, Sala dei Cento Giorni - Giorgio Vasari - 1547 - Palazzo della Cancelleria File:Villa Giulia - Court - Vasari - Vignola.jpg, Villa Giulia - Court - Vasari - Vignola File:Loggia del pesce nel MercatoVecchio, Firenze avanti 1885.jpg, Part of Loggia del Mercato Vecchio, Florence, just prior to its demolition in the 1880s

References and sources

References Sources *''The Lives of the Artists'' Oxford University Press, 1998. *''Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Volumes I and II''. Everyman's Library, 1996. *''Vasari on Technique''. Dover Publications, 1980. *''Life of Michelangelo''. Alba House, 2003. *

External links

* * * *
Biography of Vasari and analysis for four major works
*
Giorgio Vasari
– The First Art-Historian Copies of Vasari's ''Lives of the Artists'' online:

Site created by Adrienne DeAngelis. Now largely completed in the posting of the ''Lives'', intended to be re-translated to become the unabridged English version.

1550 Unabridged, original Italian.
''Stories Of The Italian Artists From Vasari''
translated by E L Seeley, 1908. Abridged, in English.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20031008214109/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/giorgio.vasari/vaspref.htm Excerpts from the ''Vite'' combined with photos of works mentioned by Vasari. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasari, Giorgio Giorgio Vasari Italian Mannerist painters Italian Mannerist architects 1511 births 1574 deaths Artist authors Italian biographers Italian art historians Italian art critics Italian male non-fiction writers Male biographers Painters from Tuscany People from Arezzo Art technological sources Uffizi 16th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian writers 16th-century male writers Biographers of artists Architects of Roman Catholic churches Catholic painters 16th-century biographers