Who was Giorgio Vasari and why was he so important?
Giorgio Vasari was one of the foremost artists of 16th century Italy, renowned not only as a painter, draftsman, and architect, but also as the author of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, a series of artist biographies that formed the basis for modern art history.
How was Giorgio Vasari biased?
It was very biased towards Florentine artists but included information on the technical methods used in the arts of the time. The work was rewritten in 1568, by this time Vasari had visited Venice and the second edition gave more weight to Venetian art and, at last, included Titian.
How did Giorgio Vasari influence the art world?
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 Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects), first published in 1550 and dedicated to Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici.
Is Giorgio Vasari’s biography of Italian artists biased?
Vasari’s writing style in the Lives is anecdotal and eminently readable. When facts were scarce, however, he did not hesitate to fill in the gaps with information of questionable veracity. His bias toward Italian (and more specifically Tuscan) art is also undeniable.
Who wrote Lives of the Artists?
Giorgio Vasari
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Authors
What language did Vasari write in?
Italian
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
| Title page of the 1568 edition of Le Vite | |
|---|---|
| Author | Giorgio Vasari |
| Language | Italian |
| Subject | Artist biographies |
| Publisher | Torrentino (1550), Giunti (1568) |
Where did Vasari live most of his life?
Giorgio Vasari, (born July 30, 1511, Arezzo [Italy]—died June 27, 1574, Florence), Italian painter, architect, and writer who is best known for his important biographies of Italian Renaissance artists.
Why was Giorgio Vasari book important?
Because his book Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, first published in 1550 in Florence and in a greatly enlarged edition in 1568, was ‘perhaps the most important book on history of art ever written’ (Peter and Linda Murray, 1963), making Vasari the first art historian in the modern sense.
