Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''

The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'', considered the ideological foundation of all art-historical writing, and the basis for biographies of several

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

artists, including

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

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 ...

. Vasari designed the ''Tomb of Michelangelo'' 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 Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/Proto-Renaissance period. Giot ...

's new manner of painting as a ''rinascita'' (rebirth), author Jules Michelet in his ''Histoire de France'' (1835) suggested adoption of Vasari's concept, using the term ''

'' (rebirth, in French) to distinguish the cultural change. The term was adopted thereafter in historiography and still is in use today.

Life

Vasari was born prematurely on 30 July 1511 in Arezzo,

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

.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 Luca Signorelli ( – 16 October 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Cortona in Tuscany, who was noted in particular for his ability as a draftsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescos of the ''Last Judgment'' (1499–15 ...

, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, 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 Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

at the age of sixteen by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, he joined the circle of Andrea del Sarto and his pupils,

Rosso Fiorentino Giovanni Battista di Jacopo (8 March 1495 in Gregorian style, or 1494 according to the calculation of times in Florence where the year began on 25 March – 14 November 1540), known as Rosso Fiorentino (meaning "Red Florentine" in Italian) ...

and

Jacopo Pontormo Jacopo Carucci (May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as ''Jacopo da Pontormo'', ''Jacopo Pontormo'', or simply Pontormo, was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School. His work represents a profound sty ...

, where his humanist education was encouraged. He was befriended by

, whose painting style would influence his own. He died on 27 June 1574 in

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 , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

where he studied the works of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...

and other artists of the Roman

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

. Vasari's own

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

paintings were more admired in his lifetime than afterward. 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 The Sala dei Cento Giorni is a large frescoed gallery or room in the Palazzo della Cancelleria or Chancellery in Central Rome, Italy. The frescoes epitomize the Mannerist style of Giorgio Vasari and his studio. History In March 1546, Cardinal Al ...

. He was employed consistently by members of the Medici family in

and Rome, and worked in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(for example on the Vasari Sacristy), 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 were at work from 1555. Vasari also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio. In Rome, he painted frescos in the ''Sala Regia''. Included among his better-known pupils or followers are Sebastiano Flori,

Bartolomeo Carducci Bartolomeo Carducci (156014 November 1608) was an Italian painter, better known as Carducho, the Spanish corruption of his Italian patronymic. Biography He was born in Florence, where he studied architecture and sculpture under Bartolomeo ...

, Mirabello Cavalori (Salincorno), Stefano Veltroni (of

Monte San Savino Monte San Savino is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy). It is located on the Essa stream in the Valdichiana. Several of its frazioni occupy higher hills, like Gargonza at and Palazzuolo, at an elevation of . History ...

), and Alessandro Fortori (of Arezzo). His last major commission was vast ''

The Last Judgement The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

'' fresco on the ceiling of the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

of the Florence Cathedral 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 Federico Zuccaro, also known as Federico Zuccari (c. 1540/1541August 6, 1609), was an Italian Mannerist painter and architect, active both in Italy and abroad. Biography Zuccaro was born at Sant'Angelo in Vado, near Urbino (Marche). His docum ...

Architecture

Aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was successful as an architect. Firenze - Uffizi

His

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

of the Palazzo degli Uffizi by the

Arno The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a s ...

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 The Vasari Corridor ( it, Corridoio Vasariano) is an elevated enclosed passageway in Florence, central Italy, connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. Beginning on the south side of the Palazzo Vecchio, it joins the Uffizi Galle ...

, 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 built the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, which connects the Uffizi with the

Palazzo Pitti The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

on the other side of the river. The enclosed corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the

Ponte Vecchio The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge", ) is a Middle Ages, medieval stone closed-spandrel Circular segment, segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy, Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during the ...

, and winds around the exterior of several buildings. It was once the home of the Mercado de Vecchio. He renovated the medieval churches of

Santa Maria Novella Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The ch ...

and Santa Croce. At both, he removed the original rood screen and loft, and remodelled the retro-

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

s in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, he was responsible for the painting of ''The Adoration of the Magi'' that was commissioned by

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is 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 Bosco Marengo (; pms, Ël Bòsch ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. Bosco Marengo borders the following ...

(Province of Alessandria, Piedmont). In 1562, Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in

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

architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola ( , , ; 1 October 15077 July 1573), often simply called Vignola, was one of the great Italian architects of 16th century Mannerism. His two great masterpieces are the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the Jesuits' Churc ...

and

Bartolomeo Ammannati Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 151113 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark's, the ''Bibli ...

Pope Julius III Pope Julius III ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 February 1550 to his death in March 155 ...

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. ...

''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''), first published in 1550 and dedicated to Grand Duke

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...

. He was the first to use the term "Rinascita" (rebirth in Italian) in print – 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) for the era that followed. Vasari was responsible for the modern use of the term

Gothic art Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern, Southern and ...

, 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 enlarged in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists (some conjectural). The work has 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 Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

. 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 Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

), it did so without achieving a neutral point of view. Many inaccuracies exist within his ''Lives''. For example, Vasari writes that

Andrea del Castagno Andrea del Castagno () or Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla (; – 19 August 1457) was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the pain ...

killed

Domenico Veneziano Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany. Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have been born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved ...

, 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 Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

and having received important commissions for the Villa Farnese and other sites. Vasari's biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip. Many of his anecdotes have the ring of truth, while others are inventions or generic fictions, such as the tale of young

painting a fly on the surface of a painting by

Cimabue Cimabue (; ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian painter ...

that supposedly, the older master repeatedly tried to brush away, a genre tale that echoes anecdotes told of the Greek painter Apelles. He did not research archives for exact dates, as modern art historians do, and naturally, his biographies are most dependable for the painters of his own generation and those of the immediate past generation. Modern criticism – with new materials opened up by research – has corrected many of his traditional dates and attributions. Vasari includes a sketch of his own biography at the end of the ''Lives'', and adds further details about him and his family in his lives of Lazzaro Vasari and Francesco Salviati. According to the historian Richard Goldthwaite, 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 Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

, 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".

Social standing

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

gonfalonier The Gonfalonier (in Italian: ''Gonfaloniere'') was the holder of a highly prestigious communal office in medieval and Renaissance Italy, notably in Florence and the Papal States. The name derives from ''gonfalone'' (in English, gonfalon), the ter ...

e. He built a fine house in Arezzo 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.

Gauvin Alexander Bailey Gauvin Alexander Bailey is an American-Canadian author and art historian. He is Professor and Alfred and Isabel Bader Chair in Southern Baroque Art at Queen's University. Bailey is a correspondent étranger at the Académie des Inscriptions et ...

, 'Santi di Tito and the Florentine Academy: Solomon Building the Temple in the Capitolo of the Accademia del Disegno (1570–71)', Apollo CLV, 480 (February 2002): pp. 31–39.

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 Florence Cathedral 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 The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

colonnade and loggia File:Loge de Vasali a Arezzo.JPG, Loggia of Vasari in Arezzo 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,

- Giorgio Vasari - 1547 -

Palazzo della Cancelleria The Palazzo della Cancelleria (Palace of the Chancellery, referring to the former Apostolic Chancery of the Pope) is a Renaissance palace in Rome, Italy, situated between the present Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Campo de' Fiori, in the rion ...

File:Villa Giulia - Court - Vasari - Vignola.jpg,

- 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