The ten volumes of this book were written in roughly the
year 1568, during the Italian Renaissance, by an Italian artist about Italian
artists. The books contain biographies
and descriptions of the artists' major works, ordered by style, which is not
exactly chronological. The biographies
are written in a gossipy, first-hand style, that revels in namedropping, making
the books a Who's Who of the Italian Renaissance (the Name Indices at the back
of each book are an amazing collection of Renaissance artists!).
...writing down the lives, the works, the manners, and the circumstances of all those who, finding the arts already dead, first revived them, then step by step nourished and adorned them, and finally brought them to that height of beauty and majesty whereon they stand at the present day.
An original frontispiece to the first two-volume edition
Look closely at the beginning of the books and you will see
the Papal permission (Pius V) for publication that was required for all books a
the time, and were issued by the Offiicii sanctissimae Inquisitionis
Florentinae, the same office of the inquisition who refused publication rights
to Galileo's writings and had him jailed.
The books are all AVAILABLE FOR FREE download as e-books, in
various formats, from Project Gutenberg, the grand-daddy of free e-book sites
on the Internet. The edition at Project
Gutenberg is the 1912-1914 edition published by MacMillan and Co. Ltd. Together
with The Medici Society, and it is a translation from the Tuscan to English by
Gaston Du C. De Vere. Hundreds of
photographs accompany the text.
Project Gutenberg was the first group to put public domain texts online for free download. Others have taken their free texts and packaged them as to-purchase books. Don't be fooled! They are all free via Project Gutenberg in various e-book formats, and many are available for free via Amazon.com as Kindle e-books.
Vasari's moody portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici painted long after the man had died, but which is said to be truer to life than those painted during the man's life
Giorgio Vasari was an artist, and in the Florentine
tradition, also an architect, but he modestly calls himself "a painter of
Arezzo". He lived from 1511 to 1574.
Most of his commissions were for the Ducal family of Florence, the de'
Medici, to whom he dedicates the biographies.
Reading the biographies, you will notice that most commissions for art
and buildings came from the Catholic Church, royal families, and wealthy aristocrats.
Most tourists who have visited Florence will recognize
Vasari's name as linked to the corridor that connects the old government buildings
in the center of Florence, to the Pitti Palace, the last de' Medici palace on the
opposite side of the Arno River. The
corridor, designed by Vasari, runs above the shops on Florence's famous Ponte
Vecchio. Actually, the corridor and
bridge are the backdrop to this blog.
This view of the Ponte Vecchio gives the best view of Vasari's corridor above the shops. Vasari describes its construction in Book 10.
Leonardo
The sections that will most interest the casual reader are
those about the two most famous artists of the Italian Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangnolo (that is
the Florentine spelling and how the man spelled his own name) Buonarotti.
The biography of Leonardo da Vinci is in Book 4, and it is a
very long section, praising the artist as a man and as a scientist and an
artist.
"...in supernatural fashion, beauty, grace, and talent are united beyond measure in one single person.""...to whatever difficulties he turned his mind, he solved them with ease."
A self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, who was known in his lifetime for his extreme beauty
Michelangelo
The biography of Michelangelo is in Book 9, and it is
wonderfully gossipy, full of first-hand accounts of the man, who was a friend of
Vasari's, and peppered with quotes from private letters of Michelangelo's. What comes across strongly is the reverence
that the de' Medici showed Michelangelo, a longtime friend of the family, and
the artist they trusted to make the family tomb in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.
A portrait of Michelangelo, who hated having his portrait made, since he was known during his lifetime for his very unattractive looks
Vasari, the perfect artist toward his patron, ends the books with:
"I shall never be weary of confessing the obligation that I feel towards that lord [ed. Cosimo de' Medici] for so many marks of affection."
A portrait of the first Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo de' Medici, in his full battle armor, painted by the official de' Medici portrait artist, Bronzino, who is described in Book 10.
Book 1
From Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi, roughly 1240-1387
Includes Giotto and Pisano
Book 2
From Berna to Michelozzi, roughly 1369-1432
Includes Aretino, Della robbia, Masaccio and Brunelleschi
Book 3
From Filarete to Mantegna, roughly 1431-1517
Includes Piero della Francesca, Lippi, Gozzoli, Ghirlandajo,
Pollaiuolo, Botticelli, and Verrocchio
Book 4
From Filippino to Puligo, roughly 1511-1527
Includes Filippino, Perugino, da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo
Book 5
From Andrea da Fiesole to Lorenzo Lotto, roughly 1522-1548
Includes Raffaello, Andrea del Sarto and Sansovino
Book 6
From Fra Giocondo to Niccolo Soggi, roughly 1524-1536
Includes San Gallo, del Piombo and Vasari
Book 7
From Tibolo to Il Sodoma, roughly 1500-1554
Includes Bandinelli and Pontormo
Book 8
From Bastiano to Taddeo Zucchero, roughly 1534-1542
Includes Salviati and Rustici
Book 9
From Michelangelo to the Flemings, roughly 1474-1564
Includes Michelangelo (Michelagnolo) and Sansovino
Book 10
From Bronzino to Vasari
Includes the descriptions of Bronzino's portraits of the
Ducal family, and of the wedding festival for Francesco, Duke Cosimo de'
Medici's eldest son and heir, and projects Vasari undertook for the royal
family.
Would you like a private tour of Vasari's corridor? Here is one, that includes at the end a bit of the Boboli Gardens and some of Michelangelo's designs at the Church of San Lorenzo.
This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.
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