July 30 – Happy Birthday, Giorgio Vasari

nPostednon July 30, 2015

nOnnthis date in 1511, one of the founders of art history was born.

nGiorgionVasari was one of those polymath guys: he was a painter, he was annarchitect, he was a writer, and he was a historian. Combine all thatntogether, and you get someone who writes one of the seminal books onnart history!

nBornnin Italy, Vasari was a pupil of a man who painted stained glass, andnat age he traveled to Florence to study. He became a friend of nonenother than Michelangelo!

Soonnhe visited Rome to study the works of Raphael and other artists. Henwas making his own paintings and frescoes and was steadily employednin various Italian cities, such as Florence, Rome, and Naples. He wasnalso successful as an architect, constructing a loggia here and anpassage there, renovating churches, and even building an octagonalndome for a basilica.

A loggia is an open-sided extension of a house or building…

nAsnI hinted above, however, Vasari is now famous, not for his paintingnor architecture, but for his art historical writing. He is oftenncalled “the first art historian.” In his book The Lives of thenMost Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Vasari inventednthe idea of creating an encyclopedia of artists’ biographies. Also,nVasari was the first to use the term “Renaissance” in print aboutnthe “rebirth” in arts that started more than a century before hisnbirth.

Ofncourse, Vasari’s book is not perfect. He gave more kudos to artistsnwho lived in Florence, even, than they deserved, and he ignorednartists from Venice and other parts of Europe to some extent, in thenfirst edition. Later editions did include artists from Venice,nhowever.

nCriticsnsay that Vasari included some amusing gossip in his biographies, andnmany of the stories sound quite realistic – although some anecdotesnare known to be fictional. Vasari didn’t do as much research as henmight have done, and some of what he wrote has been corrected bynmodern art historians (we’re talking birth dates and exact dates of anpainting, for example). However, most critics think that Vasari’snopinions about artworks are very well-stated and accurate andnunbiased.