vasari biography leonardo da vinci

Giorgio Vasari's biography of Leonardo da Vinci

Who was Giorgio Vasari?

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was an architect and painter from Florence. He was trained together with members of the famous Medici noble family and from then on carried out their commissions. Among other things, he was responsible for the construction of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Originally an administrative building, today it is one of the most famous museums in the world.

Likewise, the transformation of the "Hall of 500" in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence was among his tasks (1540). The hall is best known for the fact that Leonardo da Vinci is said to have painted the Battle of Anghiari there. At the same time, the younger Michelangelo is said to have painted there the Battle of Cascina. Both paintings are lost today.

Giorgio Vasari was also active as a writer. His main work is a collection of artists' biographies "The Lives of the Best Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors from Cimabue to Today". Through this work he is considered today as one of the first art historians. Included, among others, is a biography of Leonardo da Vinci. There are two editions of his biographies of artists: a first from 1550 and a second, slightly modified text, from 1568. The edition below follows the translation by Dr. Fritz Schillmann from 1948.

What is the significance of Vasari's biography?

Source for art history.

Vasari's biography of Leonardo da Vinci is mainly consulted to prove the authorship of certain works of art, in Leonardo's case, for example, the "Madonna with the Carnation", but also to record traces of lost paintings. Likewise, the designation "Mona Lisa" for the famous painting appears only with him. Later biographers then simply adopted this title.

Vasari's role as a biographer is very ambiguous. On the one hand, art historians are grateful to learn anything at all through him. On the other hand, he makes many false statements, e.g. about Leonardo's age at his death (75 instead of 67). Also, the inaccurate description of the "Anna Selbdritt" indicates that he wrote down hearsay. Many contradictions in Leonardo research then also go back to Vasari's text.

Vasari and the art trade in the Renaissance

In addition, we learn from Vasari's Leonardo biography of a Medusa shield that Leonardo is said to have made and which was traded at great profit by the Duke of Milan, among others, which makes it clear what great importance the art trade had even then in aristocratic circles. For example, only a hundred years later, the English and French kings traded the Leonardo painting "John the Baptist". If we consider that the Medicis, Vasari's main clients and immediate environment, were originally a banking family, and soberly considered his very flattering artist biographies had only the goal to emphasize the quality of certain artists and to name their works, the suspicion suggests that Vasari was not only concerned with the content of his widely distributed biographies, but also with high sales figures of the books, but it was also commercial interests in the evaluation of the paintings that were in his possession or that of the Medici. It should not be forgotten that the Medici were the greatest patrons of Renaissance painting, owning many Renaissance works themselves. As a noble banking family, they were certainly not a purely charitable organization. Their promotion of art was always an investment in the art market.

Vasari's acquaintance with Michelangelo

His personal acquaintance with the aged Michelangelo, is also significant in terms of Leonardo biography. Certainly he heard one or the other about Leonardo from Michelangelo, since the 22 years younger Michelangelo still experienced him personally. However, Michelangelo and Leonardo had a difficult relationship, which derived from the competition of the arts (see Paragone). Both covered each other with invective to devalue the art of the other.

In light of the above, it would be a mistake to fully believe Vasari's statements. Nevertheless, they can give an impression of how Leonardo must have worked.

Life of Leonardo da Vinci

The original text from 1550/1568 in a translation by dr. fritz schillmann from 1948.

Rich and sometimes supernatural gifts we often see spread over individual people by nature with the help of heavenly influences. Sometimes, however, like a tremendous gift, beauty, kindness, and artistic talent unite in a single personality so gloriously that every one of its actions appears happy, all other mortals lag behind it, and it is clearly revealed: its achievement is donated by God, but not acquired by human art. This was recognized in the case of Leonardo da Vinci. His body was adorned with beauty never sufficiently praised, in all his actions he showed the greatest grace, and he possessed such perfect abilities that he solved with ease even the most difficult thing he undertook. Rare strength combined in him with agility, his courage and boldness were sublime and great, and the fame of his name spread so far that he was praised not only by the fellow world, but even more by posterity.

Truly wonderful and godly was Leonardo, the son of Ser Piero da Vinci. He would have achieved great things as a scholar in the sciences if he had been less fickle and changeable. But he undertook many things and very soon abandoned those he had begun. Thus, he made incredible progress in arithmetic in a few months and constantly presented doubts and objections to his master, often leaving him in confusion. He also began to study music and soon decided to learn to play the lute. And since his mind was directed to the highest and full of the most beautiful thoughts, he improvised wonderful songs to this instrument.

Training at Verrocchio

Although he did many things in this way, he did not refrain from drawing and making reliefs, an occupation that suited his sense more than others. His father Piero, seeing this and recognizing the majesty of his mind, one day took a number of his drawings and brought them to his friend Andrea del Verrochio with the urgent request to tell him if Leonardo, if he devoted himself to the art of drawing, could achieve something in it. Andrea was astonished by the boy's extraordinary beginnings and encouraged Piero to let him choose this profession, whereupon the latter sent Leonardo to Andrea's workshop. The boy entered here with great enthusiasm and now practiced not only one profession, but all those that belong to the field of drawing. He had such a happy and wonderful mind that he became an excellent geometer, who not only worked as a sculptor, forming at a very young age some laughing female heads in clay that were reproduced in plaster, and also some children's heads that seemed to be formed by a master's hand, but also made many drawings for ground plans and buildings in the art of building. In spite of his youth, he was the first to propose to make the Arno River into a canal from Florence to Pisa. Likewise, he made drawings for mills, fulling mills and other machines driven by water, and since he chose painting as his true profession, he practiced a lot in drawing from nature. Sometimes he formed models of various figures in earth, laid over them soft rags dipped in plaster, and endeavored with extreme patience to trace them on very fine or already used canvas, executing them admirably in black and white with the point of the brush. On paper he drew so diligently and cleanly that no one has ever equaled him in delicacy. - God had poured out such grace upon this spirit, combined with an extraordinary gift of representation and a clear mind, which was everywhere aided by his ever-reliable memory. He could express his thoughts so clearly in drawings that he was able to defeat any mind, no matter how strong, by his speeches and confuse it by his reasons. Every day he made models and drawings to show how mountains could be removed and drilled through with ease to get from one level to another; how great loads could be lifted and pulled with hoisting beams, reels, and screws; in what way seaports could be cleared out and water brought up from the depths by pumping. Such difficult things his mind conceived without ceasing, and there are a lot of drawings of these thoughts and efforts. Manuscripts with Leonardo's drawings are still numerous, some of them unpublished. The most famous is the so-called Codex Atlanticus in Milan. In addition, he wasted a lot of time drawing orderly braids of strings, in which one could trace the thread from one end to the other, until he described a completely circular figure. A very difficult and beautiful drawing of this kind is engraved in copper, in the center of which one reads the words: LEONARDI VINCI ACADEMIA.

Among these drawings and models was one with which he repeatedly showed the numerous knowledgeable citizens who ruled Florence at the time that he could lift the Temple of San Giovanni and slide the steps underneath without damaging it. He demonstrated all this with so much persuasion that only after he had left did they realize how impossible this undertaking would be.

Leonardo's Character

In conversation, Leonardo was so pleasant that everyone was attracted to him. Although he actually owned almost nothing and worked little, he always kept servants and horses, in which he took great pleasure. Likewise, he treated all other animals with great love and patience. Often, when he came to a place where birds were being sold, he would take them out of their cage with his own hands, pay the price demanded, and then let them fly to give them back their lost freedom. That is why nature was so friendly to him that, whatever he turned his heart and mind to, no one else equaled him in determination, liveliness, goodness, loveliness and grace.

Leonardo began much for the love of art, but almost never finished anything, for it seemed to him that the hand could never reach the perfection in art that his mind had in mind. His ideas were so varied that he also thought about natural processes, tried to learn about the nature of plants, and observed the movement of the sky, the course of the moon and the sun. Therefore, such a heretical attitude formed in his mind that he no longer approached any religion, since he probably appreciated being a philosopher more than a Christian.

Leonardo's painting by Verrocchio

He came, as said, in his childhood to Andrea del Verrochio in the apprenticeship. The latter was working on a panel of the Baptism of Christ, and Leonardo painted in it an angel holding some vestments. Despite his youth, he executed this figure so perfectly that his angel far surpassed Andrea's figures. This was the reason why the master did not want to touch any more colors, full of anger that a child understood more than him.

Then Leonardo was commissioned to draw the Fall of Man in Paradise, a box intended for a door curtain in gold and silk to be woven in Flanders for the King of Portugal. In this box, Leonardo executed in grisaille, with lights in lead white, a meadow that contained an endless number of species of plants and some animals, all completed with so much accuracy and naturalness that one may truly say that no other godly artist in the world could have done it just so. There is also a fig tree, with leaves and branches of the most beautiful foreshortening and loving execution, so that one is amazed at the infinite patience that is manifested here. There is also a palm tree whose fan-shaped crown is shaded and rounded with such great art that only Leonardo's patience could have made it so. This box, by the way, was never woven and it is now in the fortunate collection of the illustrious Ottaviano de'Medici, to whom it was recently given by Leonardo's uncle.

The head of Medusa

The story goes that one day one of his peasants visited Ser Piero da Vinci in his country house, brought him a round shield made by himself from a fig tree of the estate and asked him to have something painted on it in Florence. Piero was happy to do it, because the farmer had a lot of practice in catching birds and fish, and he often used his help in these matters. He had the shield brought to Florence, gave it to Leonardo without saying who it belonged to, so that he could paint something on it. One day he took the shield, saw that it was crooked, badly and clumsily worked, bent it at the fire and finally had a wood turner form a fine and even one from this clumsy work. He then primed it with plaster, prepared it in his own way, and began to think about what he could paint on it in order to frighten the one who confronted him and to produce the same effect as the head of Medusa once did. For this purpose, he brought into his room, which he entered alone, lizards, crickets, snakes, butterflies, grasshoppers, bats and other strange animals of this kind, and created from this strange heap, by various combinations, a hideous and frightening monster. Poisonous breath spouted from its open maw, fire from its eyes, and smoke from its nostrils, while it emerged from a dark, broken rock, so that it appeared truly monstrous and terrible. In his excessive zeal for the work, he had not even noticed the unbearable stench that the now deceased animals were spreading in the room. When the work was finished, which neither the farmer nor his father had bothered with, Leonardo asked the latter to have the shield picked up occasionally; he, for his part, was finished with it. Ser Piero therefore went to the son's home one morning and knocked on the door. Leonardo opened and asked him to wait a little. He hurried back into the room, placed the shield on the easel in right light, let in only a dull glow through the window, and called his father to inspect the work. At first Ser Piero did not think of such a thing, and since he did not think he was looking at the shield, but at a painted beast, he involuntarily backed away. Leonardo, however, held him and said: "The work is useful for the purpose for which it was made. Take it and carry it away; that is the effect expected from a work of art." To the father the thing seemed more than marvelous, he praised the whimsical idea, bought, without saying anything, another shield, on which was painted a heart pierced by an arrow, and gave it to the peasant, who felt indebted to him for it all his life. Leonardo's shield, on the other hand, he sold for a hundred ducats to merchants in Florence, through whom it soon came into the possession of the Duke of Milan, who paid three hundred ducats for it.

Madonna painting

Leonardo then painted a quite outstanding Madonna painting, which later became the property of Pope Clement VII. Among other things, this painting contained a glass vase filled with water and flowers in it, a marvel of fidelity, the dew pearls on the petals were so naturally rendered that they appeared more real than in reality.

Drawing of a Neptune

For his close friend, Antonio Segni, he drew on a folio sheet a Neptune that seemed to be alive, so carefully was it executed. One saw the churning sea, Neptune's chariot pulled by sea horses, surrounded by water spirits, monsters and winds; the pots of some sea gods are wonderfully drawn. Antomo Segni's son, Fabio, made this drawing a gift to the knife Giovanni Gaddi, with the following epigram:

Virgil and Homer, they both represented Neptune, How he guides the sea horses through the raging waves. But what the poets only saw in their minds, da Vinci saw With his own eyes; he has truly surpassed them.

Oil painting of the head of Medusa

Leonardo also had the fantastic idea of painting in oil the head of Medusa with a coiffure of intertwined serpents, the strangest and most whimsical invention imaginable. But since the work required time, he left it unfinished, like so many other things. It belongs to the magnificent treasures in the palace of Duke Cosimo,

John the Baptist

together with the half figure of an angel, whose arm is raised and drawn shortened from the shoulder to the elbow, so that it comes forward, while the hand of the other arm is on the chest.

Leonardo's painting technique of the sfumato

It is marvelous how this genius, who strove to make the objects he created stand out vividly, went about with the dark shadows in such a way as to find out the keynote of the still darker ones, as he searched for a black that was blacker than the rest and would be suitable for shading them, and through which the lights would appear even more brilliant. At last he discovered those quite dark inks in which there is no light at all, better suited to imitate the night than the faintest glow of daylight. But all this was done in order to give the objects more roundness and to lead the art to the limit and perfection.

Leonardo's character drawings

It was a special pleasure for him when he met people with unusual facial features, beards or hair ornaments. He could have followed such people all day long, and their figure became so imprinted on his mind that he drew them at home as if they were standing in front of him. In this way he had executed many male and female heads. I myself possess in my often quoted collection some pen and ink drawings by his hand. The portrait of Amerigo Vespuci, a magnificent old man's head, was also of this kind. A charcoal drawing and also the portrait of the Gypsy chief Scaramuccia, later then in the possession of Messer Donato Valdambrini, who received it from the estate of Gambullari. A panel with the Adoration of the Magi was started by him; it contains much beauty, especially in heads, but remained unfinished, like his other works.

Leonardo as a musician

In 1494 Giovan Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, had died, and Lodovico Sforza was chosen as his successor. The latter found great pleasure in playing the lute, and Leonardo was therefore honorably summoned. He took with him an instrument that he himself had made almost entirely of silver in the shape of a horse's head, a strange and new shape, calculated to give the sound more strength and melodiousness. Thus he surpassed all the musicians who had come to Milan to play. Moreover, in his time he was the best improviser in rhyme. The Duke, enraptured by Leonardo's wonderful gifts, fell in love with his talents to such an extent that it was almost unbelievable.

Birth of Christ

He asked him to paint an altarpiece, a Nativity, which was sent as a gift from Lodovico to the Emperor.

The Last Supper

For the Dominican monks in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan he created a Last Supper of rare and marvelous excellence. He gave so much majesty and beauty to the heads of the apostles that he left the head of the Savior unfinished, convinced that he could not give it the heavenly divinity required for an image of Christ. The work remained as if it were finished and has always been praised by Milanese and foreigners alike. Leonardo had succeeded in expressing in the best way the suspicion that gripped the hearts of the apostles, who wanted to know who had betrayed their master. From the faces of all speaks love, fear and anger, but also the pain that they do not understand the soul of Christ, and this is just as wonderful as the defiance, hatred and betrayal that one recognizes in Judas, moreover, the slightest details of the whole work are worked with incredible care, even the fabric of the tablecloth is reproduced as one could not see it better in the finest linen.

It is said that the prior of the monastery very impetuously urged Leonardo to complete the work. It seemed strange to him to see the artist sometimes lost in contemplation for half a day. He would have preferred it if he, like workers who hoe the garden, had never laid down his brush. But this was not enough for him. He also complained to the duke and pressed him until the latter felt compelled to have Leonardo summoned and most kindly spurred him on to work, assuring him worthily that he was only doing so at the prior's importunity. Leonardo knew the clear mind and tact of the prince, so he decided to talk to him at length about the matter, which he would never have done with the prior. He spoke at length about art and made him understand that sublime minds sometimes create the most when they work the least, that is, when they invent and form perfect ideas, which the mind then grasps and the hands express and shape. Two heads, he added, were still missing: that of the Redeemer, for whom he did not want to search on earth and who, as he believed, could never come to his imagination in that beauty and heavenly grace which corresponded to the incarnate Godhead; the other, about which he was thinking, was that of Judas. It seemed impossible to him to find suitable features for that disciple whose defiant spirit, after so many benefits received, would have been capable of the decision to betray his Master, the Creator of the world. For this, however, he would seek, and if he found no other, he would still have the troublesome and meddlesome prior. This made the duke laugh very much, and he agreed with Leonardo a thousand times. The poor prior, however, being in confusion, occupied himself henceforth with his gardening and left the artist in peace; the latter finished the head of Judas so admirably that it is the true image of treachery and inhumanity; the head of Christ, on the other hand, remained unfinished.

The glory of this painting, the composition as well as the diligent execution aroused in the King of France the desire to have it brought into his kingdom. He searched in every way for builders who could bind it tightly enough with wooden beams and iron so that it could be taken away undamaged, he paid no attention to the possible costs, so great was his desire for it. However, because it was painted on the wall, his majesty finally lost the desire for it, and it remained in Milan.

Portrait of the Duke of Milan and Beatrice d'Este

While he was still working on the Last Supper, at the front of the same refectory where there is a Passion of Christ in the old style, he portrayed Duke Ludovico and his firstborn son Massmiliano, and to the other side the Duchess Beatrice with her younger son Francesco: Wonderful portraits.

The equestrian statue for the Duke of Milan

While he was working on this work, Leonardo proposed to the Duke to make a horse in bronze of astonishing size and to have the late Duke represented on it in memory.The monument was to represent the Duke's father, Marquis Francesco Sforza.He began and completed the model, but in such size that it could never be executed. And as often happens. And as envy often causes people to judge maliciously, there were those who thought that Leonardo had begun it like other of his works so that it would not be completed. His greatness was the cause of incredible difficulties when it was to be cast in one piece, and one could well believe that the outcome had given some people that thought, because very many of his works did not reach the end. But probably his sublime, splendid spirit was hindered by too great striving, so that his striving to achieve excellence over excellence and perfection over perfection was to blame, and, as Petrarch says, "desire inhibited the work". Whoever looked at the model of that monument, executed in clay by Leonardo, confessed to never having seen anything more beautiful and proud. It survived until the French came to Milan with their King Louis and destroyed it. A small, very perfect wax model of the same work has also been lost, along with a book on the anatomy of horses that Leonardo had worked on for his own study.

Anatomical studies

He studied human anatomy with even greater care. A study in which he and Marcantonio della Torre supported each other. This Marcantonio, an excellent philosopher who lectured and wrote about it in Pavia at that time, was one of the first, as I heard, who began to explain the medical questions with the teachings of Galenus and brought light to the anatomy, which until then remained in the densest darkness of ignorance. In this he used the spirit, the work and the hand of Leonardo. The latter filled a whole book with red chalk and pen drawings of human bodies, some of which he dissected himself, drawing all the bones, to which he then connected in turn all the tendons and covered them with muscles, first those adhering to the bone, then those holding everything together, and finally those moving everything. and to each sheet he wrote explanations in bad handwriting, which is written upside down with the left hand and which no one who has no practice understands, because it is only read in the mirror. A large part of these anatomical writings of the human body is in the possession of Mr. Francesco da Melzi, a Milanese nobleman; in Leonardo's time he was a child of rare beauty and very dear to him; now he is a handsome, amiable old man; he kept these sheets like dear relics, together with Leonardo's portrait of blessed memory. But whoever reads those writings, it seems unbelievable that this divine spirit could speak so well at the same time about art and about muscles, nerves, veins and everything else with such expertise.

Book of painting

Some other writings of Leonardo, again written with the left hand upside down, are in the possession of a Milanese painter; they deal with painting, draftsmanship and colors. Some time ago, when the latter visited me in Florence, he intended to have the aforementioned book printed; he took it to Rome to publish it there; I do not know what became of it then.

Leonardo's mechanical lion

At that time the King of France came to Milan, and at his request to do some miraculous thing, he created a lion that could walk a few steps and now and then opened its chest, which was full of lilies.

During his stay in Milan, Leonardo took a young man from that city, Salai, as his pupil. Leonardo took great pleasure in his grace and beauty, especially in his curly hair. He taught him many things in art, and some paintings attributed to Salai in Milan are reworked by Leonardo.

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist

Leonardo returned to Florence. There he learned that the Servite friars had entrusted Filippino with the painting for the main altar of the Nunziata, and he said that he would also like to take on such a work. When Filippino heard this, this kind man withdrew from the matter, and the monks entrusted the picture to Leonardo. They took him into their house, gave him a living for himself and all his dependents, which he let happen for a long time without starting anything. Finally, however, he made a box on which the Madonna, St. Anne and the Christ Child were so beautifully depicted that not only all artists, but everyone who looked at them felt obliged to admire them. For two days, men and women, young and old, went on pilgrimage to the room, as if to a brilliant feast, to see Leonardo's marvelous work, which astonished everyone.

For in the face of the Madonna was seen all that simplicity and sweetness which can give grace to the Mother of God; for he wished to represent in her the modesty and humility of the Virgin, who joyfully observes the beauty of the Son; she holds him tenderly on her lap, her eyes demurely cast down, and looks after St. John, who is a little child playing with a little lamb, and St. Anne smiles, filled with joy that her earthly sex has become a heavenly one; loud reflections, according to the mind and spirit of Leonardo. This box later came to France, as will be told below.

Ginevra de' Benci

Leonardo portrayed the Ginevra d'Amerigo Benci, a very beautiful work

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

Then he returned their order to the monks, who now once again entrusted the work to Filippino, who, however, surprised by death, could not complete it.

Leonardo also began to paint the portrait of the Mona Lisa, his wife, for Francesco del Giocondo. He spent four years of effort on it, then left it unfinished, and it is now in Fontainebleau in the possession of King Francis of France. Anyone who wanted to see how far it is possible for art to imitate nature could see it in this beautiful head. All the small details were depicted in the finest way, the eyes had luster and moisture, as we see it in life, all around one noticed the reddish-blue circles and the veining, which can only be executed with the greatest delicacy. On the brows, where they are fullest, where they are sparest, one saw them emerging from the pores of the skin and arching, as naturally as can be thought. On the nose, the fine openings were rosy and delicately reproduced in the most faithful manner. The mouth, where the lips close and the red unites with the color of the face, had a perfection that it did not appear as painted, but really like flesh and blood. If you looked carefully at the throat pit, you thought you could see the beating of the pulses. In short, one can say that this painting was executed in a way that made every exquisite artist and everyone who saw it tremble. Mona Lisa was very beautiful, and Leonardo still needed the caution that, while he was painting, there must always be someone present who sang, played and joked, so that she would remain cheerful and not acquire a sad appearance, as is often the case when one sits to have his portrait painted. Over this face, on the other hand, floats a smile so sweet that it seemed to be of heavenly rather than human hand; and it was considered admirable because it was completely equal to life.

Battle of Anghiari

Through the magnificent works of this divine master, his fame had grown to such an extent that everyone who enjoyed art, indeed all of Florence, yearned for him to leave something there in his memory. There was talk of entrusting him with an important work, so that the spirit and grace that all his works displayed would be an ornament to the city. The Gonfalonieri and the first citizens were negotiating among themselves, since at that time the great council hall had been newly built. It had been finished with great speed and it was now decided by public decree that Leonardo should paint a beautiful picture there. Piero Soderini, then Gonfaloniere of Justice, gave him the work. To carry it out, Leonardo began in Santa Maria Novella, in the hall of the Pope, a cardboard in which he depicted the story of Niccolò Piccinino, field captain of Duke Filippo of Milan. In it he drew a troop of horsemen fighting for a flag, and this work was recognized as masterly because of the admirable deliberation with which Leonardo arranged this stormy scene. Rage, anger and vindictiveness are recognizable in the people as well as the horses. Two of these animals have their forefeet interlocked and are striking at each other with their teeth, furious as the horsemen fighting for the flag. One of the soldiers has grasped the end of the standard with both hands, drives the horse to flee, throws back its body with its powerful shoulders, clutches the shaft of the flag, and thus seeks to wrest it violently from the hands of four warriors who are defending it. Each holds it with one hand, in the other they swing their swords to cut off the shaft, while an old warrior with a red beret has also seized the shaft with one hand. With the other, he raises a crooked saber in the air and, screaming with rage, leads the strike to cut off the hands of the soldiers, who, snarling, try to defend their flag in a fierce position. In addition, two other warriors are drawn foreshortened on the ground between the horses' feet: one is lying on the ground, the other has thrown himself over him, raises his arm high up and puts the dagger to his throat with tremendous force. The other, on the other hand, defends himself with arms and legs to escape death. It can hardly be said how beautifully Leonardo has drawn the various clothing of the soldiers, the helmet ornaments and other ornaments, and what mastery he has shown in the outlines and design of the horses, because better than any other master he knew how to give these animals wildness, proper muscle play and graceful beauty. To execute his cartoon, Leonardo had an immensely artistic framework made, which rose when it was pulled together and lowered when it was pulled apart. Since he wanted to paint the picture in oil on the wall, he made such a thick mixture to glue the wall with that, that in the further course of painting in this room it began to sag in such a way that he gave up the work after a short time, because he realized that it would perish.

Leonardo's attitude to money

Leonardo had a high sense and was generous in everything he did. It is said that he once went to the bank to collect the monthly commission paid to him by Pietro Soderini. When the cashier wanted to give him some rolls of copper coins, he returned them and said he was not a penny painter. Another time, when he heard that Soderini suspected him of fraud, he collected money from friends and brought the money to Soderini, but he did not accept it.

Leonardo's creative follies

Leonardo went to Rome with Giuliano de' Medici at the time of the election of Pope Leo, who was much occupied with philosophy and even more with alchemy. There he made a dough of wax and, when it was liquid, formed from it very delicate animals, which he filled with air; if he blew into it, they flew, if the air was out, they fell to earth. A strange lizard, which the vintner of Belvedere found, he made wings from the flayed skin of other lizards, which he filled with mercury, so that they moved and trembled when it ran. Then he made her eyes, beard, and horns, tamed her, put her in a box, and used it to scare all his friends into flight. Often he had the intestines of a mutton cleaned out so finely that it could have been held in the hollow of his hand. These he carried into a large room, brought into an adjoining room a few forged bellows, fastened the intestines to them and blew them up until they took over the whole room and one had to flee into a corner. Thus he showed how they gradually became transparent and filled with air, and while they, at first confined to a small space, spread more and more throughout the room, he likened them to genius. He did innumerable such follies, occupied himself with mirrors and tried in the strangest way to find oils for painting and varnishes to obtain the finished works.

Madonna with child

For the head of the papal chancellery, Messer Baldassare Turini of Pescia, he painted with infinite delicacy and art a small panel, a Madonna with Child. This painting is in very bad condition today, perhaps because the panel was not well dressed, but perhaps also because Leonardo experimented forever with his primers and colors.

Image of a boy

On another panel he painted the image of a boy, a wonderfully graceful work. These two paintings are now in the possession of Messer Giulio Turini in Pescia. It was said that when he was commissioned by the Pope to produce a work, he immediately began distilling oils and herbs into a varnish; when Pope Leo heard this, he exclaimed, "O woe! this one will accomplish nothing, since he thinks of the end before the work is begun."

Leonardo and Michelangelo

There was great dislike between Leonardo and Michelangelo, and the competition between the two was to blame for Michelangelo leaving Florence, with Duke Giuliano excusing him, since he had been called by the Pope for the facade of San Lorenzo. When Leonardo heard this, he also left and went to France, where the king owned several works of his and was very fond of him.

The commissioning of Anna Selbdritt by the French king

The king wanted Leonardo to paint the box of St. Anne. The latter, as usual, stalled him for a long time with words.

Leonardo's life confession and death

Finally, having grown old, he lay ill for many months, and when death approached him, he wanted to be instructed with all diligence in the Catholic rite and the correct doctrine of the holy Christian religion. He confessed repentantly with many tears, [talking about Catholic matters of faith and finding himself back on the right path, he converted back to the Christian faith with many tears. He then confessed and repented,1550] and although he could no longer stand on his feet, he nevertheless, supported by the arms of his friends and servants, had the holy sacrament administered to him outside the bed. The king, who visited him often and lovingly, came to see him soon after. Leonardo reverently raised himself to sit up in bed, described to him his evil with all the circumstances, and lamented that he had erred against God and man, since he had done nothing in art as his duty should have been. This effort called forth a stronger fit, which was the harbinger of death. The king rose and held his head to give him a help and favor to relieve his evil. Then Leonardo's divine spirit realized that no greater honor could befall him, and he passed away in the arms of the king in the 75th year of his life.

His death caused the greatest sorrow to all who had known him. Never had painting been more honored by an artist. The radiance of his beautiful face cheered every sad mind, and his speech could move the most obstinate opinion to yes or no. He knew how to hold back every violent impetuosity by the power that dwelt in him. With his right hand he bent the iron of a wall ring or a horse's hoof as if they were lead. With natural generosity he offered hospitality to his friends, whether they were rich or poor, if only spirit and virtue graced them. The most insignificant, unadorned room he embellished and glorified by his every action. And as the city of Florence received a great gift by the birth of this artist, it suffered a more than bitter loss by his death. In the art of oil painting, a certain shading was invented by him, by which the newer artists give great strength and roundness to their figures. What he was capable of in sculpture he showed in the three bronze figures above the north door of San Giovanni. They were cast by Giovan Francesco Rustici, but designed according to Leonardo's specifications, and in drawing and execution are the most beautiful castings seen in recent times. To Leonardo we owe the anatomy of horses and the even more perfect one of the human body. And although he worked more by words than by deeds, for the sake of his many divine merits his name and reputation will never be extinguished.

Thus, in praise of him, Messer Giovan Batista Strozzi wrote the following:

He all alone defeated all others, He triumphed over Phidias and Apelles And their heroic band of epigones.

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The Life of Leonardo da Vinci: A New Translation Hardcover – Illustrated, March 5, 2019

A long-awaited new translation of Giorgio Vasari’s “Life of Leonardo da Vinci,” illustrated for the first time, that preserves Vasari’s compelling narrative and respects his meaning with a new precision. 

Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550 and 1568) is a classic of cultural history. In his monumental assembly of artists’ lives, no life is more vivid than that of Leonardo da Vinci, a near-contemporary of Vasari. Illustrated with the works of art discussed by Vasari, and including a selection of Da Vinci’s studies of science and technology, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci paints an intriguing picture of the progress of art in the hands of the master. Succinct notes also provide new insights in light of modern knowledge of Da Vinci’s career.

This beautiful gift edition offers a literary translation by eminent scholar Martin Kemp that respects the sixteenth-century Italian, transposing Vasari’s vocabulary into its modern equivalent. Translated in partnership with Lucy Russell, the text will be the first to integrate the 1550 edition and the expanded version of 1568. This fascinating and accessible read coincides with the five hundredth anniversary of Da Vinci’s death. 

• Print length 128 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Thames & Hudson
• Publication date March 5, 2019
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.5 x 7.5 inches
• ISBN-10 0500239851
• ISBN-13 978-0500239858
• See all details

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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thames & Hudson; Illustrated edition (March 5, 2019)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0500239851
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0500239858
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
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About the authors

Martin kemp.

Martin Kemp was trained in Natural Sciences and Art History at Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute, London. His 30 books include, The Science of Art. Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat (Yale), and The Human Animal in Western Art and Science (Chicago). He has published and broadcast extensively on Leonardo da Vinci, including the prize-winning Leonardo da Vinci. The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man and Leonardo (both Oxford). His Christ to Coke. How image becomes icon (Oxford) looks at 11 representatives of types of icons across a wide range of public imagery. He wrote regularly for Nature, his essays for which have been published as Visualizations and developed in Seen and Unseen (both Oxford) in which his concept of “structural intuitions” is explored. Recent books include Art in History (Profile Books) and Mona Lisa with Giuseppe Pallanti (Oxford). Living with Leonardo (Thames and Hudson) was published in March 2018. In 2019 his five books will include a co-authored book on Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi.

He has been a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland, The Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum. He has curated and co-curated a series of exhibitions on Leonardo and other themes, including Ca 1492 at the National Gallery in Washington, Spectacular Bodies at the Hayward Gallery in London, Leonardo da Vinci. Experience, Experiment, Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2006 and Seduced. Sex and Art from Antiquity to Now, Barbican Art Gallery London, 2007.

He is now full-time speaking, writing and broadcasting.

Giorgio Vasari

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What Men Saw: Vasari's Life of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Image of the Renaissance Artist

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Patricia Rubin, What Men Saw: Vasari's Life of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Image of the Renaissance Artist, Art History , Volume 13, Issue 1, March 1990, Pages 34–46, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8365.1990.tb00378.x

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Leonardo's intellectual cosmos <

The intellectual cosmos of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) is seemingly inexhaustible. It echoes the diversity and cultural abundance of the Renaissance, which he embodies in all its facets like few others of his time. He applied his curiosity and creative commitment to all fields of knowledge, from the forces of nature, both large and small, to all varieties of human form and design.

Leonardo’s era was characterized by upheavals: the rediscovery of antiquity, the rise of trade and science, the invention of printing, the European discovery of America, and the beginnings of a new astronomical worldview. The tensions affecting his time included those between Christianity and the revived pagan antiquity, faith and science, the bourgeoisie of the burgeoning cities and feudal society, new technologies and the traditional social order. The great emphasis placed on the highest level of individuality of human actors stood in contrast to the aspiration of their thinking to universal validity, while the growing potency of art began to compete with the forces of nature. All this took place alongside disruptive experiences of war, crises, and diseases such as the plague—but also the challenge posed by the new possibilities of thought, belief, and action.

Leonardo and other contemporary artists, scientist-engineers, and humanists struggled to balance out these tensions in their work, although not at the price of flattening them or accepting one-sided solutions. Instead, they succeeded in giving expression to these tensions in their creative works and using them productively. The willingness not to conceal contradictions, but to battle through them in a constant dialogue with oneself and others, was considered a virtue. Leonardo’s intellectual cosmos was deeply influenced by contradictions, such as his quest for the dynamical and even conflicted harmony of the world and his willingness to address the inherent tensions in a never-ending diversity of details, to each of which he devoted all his attention and skill.

The much-discussed antithesis between observation of nature and traditional scholarship through books was another issue Leonardo refused to deal with one-sidedly, tackling both aspects with great commitment. Compared with his predecessors, he was almost unique in how he perceived the diversity of nature, at the same time using the new medium of book printing to build up a remarkable library that influenced and corresponded to his own worldview.

To a large extent, Leonardo’s library could be reconstructed from his manuscript notes. It was unique yet reproducible. This is made clear in this exhibition, which gathers a number of works from his library, but not his personal copies, which–with possibly one exception–have not survived. Instead, the “Berlin Leonardo Library” has been compiled from contemporary works from the holdings of libraries in Berlin. In particular, they include the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (State Library of Berlin), the Kunstbibliothek (Library of Art History), and the Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen (Museum of Prints and Drawings) and, last but not least, the Library of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, which has focused on the upheavals of the early modern period and their consequences for the past 25 years and continues to study them today. The specimens we have collated testify to the accelerated dissemination of knowledge through the printing and circulation of books that helped to make Leonardo’s intellectual cosmos possible in the first place.

Leonardo grew up in an emergent and fascinating world of books in which contemporary knowledge circulated in new ways and could be combined from varying perspectives. He had ambitious plans to be an author himself but the traces of his wide-ranging work that he left for posterity are provisional and often sketchy in character compared with the cohesive style and closed form of the books he aspired to but hardly ever achieved.

The exhibition shows Leonardo’s world in a process of upheaval: in media, in the transition to a new knowledge economy, in the struggle for a new understanding of the world. Which books influenced Leonardo’s intellectual cosmos? How did he work with his books? What became of his plans to write and publish his own books? Why was it so difficult for him to bring his ideas together in book form? What was lost in the transition from the manuscript world with its many and diverse forms—in Leonardo’s case it was often a complex weave of individual notes—to the book world, and what does this loss mean for our world today and its approach to new media and knowledge economies?

The exhibition resists the temptation to categorize Leonardo as a precursor, for example, of modern science and technology. Instead, it searches his intellectual cosmos for a distant mirror of our own era of radical change. What we find there, looking through Leonardo’s eyes, are not only countless unfinished projects but also the still undecided possibilities for understanding and shaping the world in one way or another. Precisely this view of his works as open and accessible offers us the opportunity to find inspiration for balances that do justice to the tensions and contradictions of our own time.

Jürgen Renn

Leonardo’s Life and Legacy <

Leonardo was a very mobile artist. He travelled widely in his lifetime and worked for a great variety of patrons. His path took him from provincial Tuscany to metropolitan Florence and Milan, and finally to the courts of the pope and the king of France. His assignments and his own interests were extremely diverse. The view of the Leonardo phenomenon from posterity has always been defined by the ideas and preferences of the particular epoch. This installation is designed to give an overview of the stages of Leonardo’s life. The eight stages should be seen simply as a general frame, since the individual years cannot always be dated exactly. Each stage has an associated image to help clarify a specific aspect of Leonardo’s oeuvre or cast light on his intellectual and artistic legacy.

• A. Vinci 1452–1469: Telemaco Signorini. Vinci 1896

The Hanging of Bernardo Bandini Baroncelli 1479

• C. Milan 1482–1500: after Leonardo da Vinci. Academia Leonardi Vinci 1497–1500
• D. Mantua, Upper and Central Italy 1500–1502: Francesco Melzi after Leonardo da Vinci. Codex Urbinas Latinus 1270 / Libro di pittura ca. 1530–1540

from “Le vite de più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori” 1568

Traitt é de la peinture / de Léonard de Vinci.

Donné au public et traduit d ’ italien en franç ois par R. F. S. D. C. Paris: Langlois, 1651

• G. Leonardo da Vinci. Coin minting 1513 –1514

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci ca. 1515–1518

Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla / Internet Archive

ca. 25.5 x 17 cm

At the invitation of the Florentine Republic, Leonardo returns to the city where he had started his career. He is commissioned to paint the mural of The Battle of Anghiari in the council chamber of the city hall, today the Palazzo Vecchio. His technical experiment with wax painting turned into a fiasco. His mammoth project for completely rechanneling the River Arno was also never executed. But the portrait of the Mona Lisa (1503–1504) which he also painted at that time, became his most famous work today. In the monastery of Santa Maria Novella, where he lives and works, Leonardo compiles the most comprehensive list of the books he owns ( 4 ▲ ).

Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), the architect, court painter of the Medici grand dukes, and the father of modern historiography of art, influenced the popular image of Leonardo to this day with his description of the artist’s life embellished with anecdotes. The biography appeared in different versions in 1550 and 1568. Vasari’s viewpoint is quite ambivalent: on the one hand he admired Leonardo as the founder of the modern style of painting ( maniera moderna ), whose creations are distinguished by an almost divine grace ( grazia divina ), but on the other hand he uses Leonardo as a curiously negative example of instability, weird enthusiasms, and time-consuming interests remote from art. The portrait medallion of the bearded painter with the typical travelling cap in the 1568 edition was to consolidate the cliché of Leonardo as an oddball genius for centuries to come.

Vasari, Giorgio. 2006. Das Leben des Leonardo da Vinci. Neuübersetzt von Victoria Lorini, herausgegeben, kommentiert und eingeleitet von Sabine Feser . Berlin: Wagenbach.

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Book list ca. 1503–1504

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Giorgio Vasari

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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. Born in Arezzo on July 30, 1511, into a family of craftsmen, Vasari undertook artistic training in Florence under the care of the ruling Medici family and entered the workshop and circle of Andrea del Sarto. During his training in Florence, Michelangelo’s work strongly impacted Vasari, an influence that would remain potent for his entire artistic career. Following travels to Rome and Arezzo during the expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1527, Vasari returned to Florence in service of the Medici court upon their reinstatement into power in 1532. There he painted portraits of both Lorenzo il Magnifico and Alessandro de’ Medici. Vasari briefly turned his attention to the study of architecture until 1537 when his patron Alessandro was murdered, after which Vasari abandoned the court. Over the next decade, Vasari traveled across Italy, befriending artists and taking on both lay and religious commissions. In 1537, the monastery at Camaldoli commissioned several works from him, including a Virgin and Child, an altarpiece of the Nativity, and in 1540 Vasari completed his Descent from the Cross for the high altar. After journeys to Venice to visit Pietro Aretino and to Mantua to visit Giulio Romano, Vasari purchased a house in Arezzo and worked on its decoration until 1546. During this period, he also completed commissions in Naples and Rome, where he met Titian. By 1547, he had completed writing the Lives, which he dedicated to Cosimo I upon its publication in 1550. By 1554, Vasari had returned to the service of the Medici in Florence, after which he undertook perhaps the most significant project of his artistic career, the remodeling of the Palazzo Vecchio. In the last decade of his life, the painter worked for both the duke of Florence and in Rome for Pope Pius V. In 1569, the pope commissioned Vasari to decorate several chapels in the Vatican, work for which Vasari was later awarded a knighthood. The uppermost chapel in the Torre Pio in Rome was dedicated to the archangel Michael, with a central panel of the Coronation of the Virgin surrounded by paintings of the four evangelists. The Saint Luke and Saint Mark panels were acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 2013. In addition to these works, the National Gallery of Art holds several drawings by Vasari, including a sheet from his important book of drawings, the “Libro de’ Disegni.” Vasari died on June 27, 1574, in Florence, and was buried in a chapel he designed in Arezzo. His artworks achieved high acclaim in his time, and his Lives remains perhaps the most popular early work on the history of art. —Kelli Wood Born in Arezzo on July 30, 1511, into a family of craftsmen, Vasari undertook artistic training in Florence under the care of the ruling Medici family and entered the workshop and circle of Andrea del Sarto. During his training in Florence, Michelangelo’s work strongly impacted Vasari, an influence that would remain potent for his entire artistic career. Following travels to Rome and Arezzo during the expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1527, Vasari returned to Florence in service of the Medici court upon their reinstatement into power in 1532. There he painted portraits of both Lorenzo il Magnifico and Alessandro de’ Medici. Vasari briefly turned his attention to the study of architecture until 1537 when his patron Alessandro was murdered, after which Vasari abandoned the court. Over the next decade, Vasari traveled across Italy, befriending artists and taking on both lay and religious commissions. In 1537, the monastery at Camaldoli commissioned several works from him, including a Virgin and Child, an altarpiece of the Nativity, and in 1540 Vasari completed his Descent from the Cross for the high altar. After journeys to Venice to visit Pietro Aretino and to Mantua to visit Giulio Romano, Vasari purchased a house in Arezzo and worked on its decoration until 1546. During this period, he also completed commissions in Naples and Rome, where he met Titian. By 1547, he had completed writing the Lives, which he dedicated to Cosimo I upon its publication in 1550. By 1554, Vasari had returned to the service of the Medici in Florence, after which he undertook perhaps the most significant project of his artistic career, the remodeling of the Palazzo Vecchio. In the last decade of his life, the painter worked for both the duke of Florence and in Rome for Pope Pius V. In 1569, the pope commissioned Vasari to decorate several chapels in the Vatican, work for which Vasari was later awarded a knighthood. The uppermost chapel in the Torre Pio in Rome was dedicated to the archangel Michael, with a central panel of the Coronation of the Virgin surrounded by paintings of the four evangelists. The Saint Luke and Saint Mark panels were acquired by the National Gallery of Art in 2013. In addition to these works, the National Gallery of Art holds several drawings by Vasari, including a sheet from his important book of drawings, the “Libro de’ Disegni.” Vasari died on June 27, 1574, in Florence, and was buried in a chapel he designed in Arezzo. His artworks achieved high acclaim in his time, and his Lives remains perhaps the most popular early work on the history of art. —Kelli Wood

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The Mona Lisa Foundation

Giorgio vasari.

In 1550, Giorgio Vasari, the famous architect, painter, historian and writer, published the first edition of his monumental collection of biographies, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects . A Second Edition was published in 1568.

Title page of Giorgio Vasari’s The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Architects, Painters and Sculptors , from the 1st Edition, 1550.

In the course of his monograph on Leonardo da Vinci, Vasari included a wonderfully descriptive paragraph about Mona Lisa and its first sentence has become one of the most vital and examined few words in all the canon of literature concerning Mona Lisa. It is loaded with information, and until the earlier part of the 20th Century was the standard source on this subject:

“Prese Lionardo a fare per Francesco del Giocondo il ritratto di Mona Lisa sua moglie; e quattro anni penatovi lo lascio imperfetto, la quale opera oggi e appresso il Re Francesco di Francia in Fontanableo.” “Leonardo undertook to execute, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa his wife, and after he had lingered over it for four years, he left it unfinished; and the work is today in the possession of King Francis of France, at Fontainebleau.”

[Note: Leonardo did not work on the portrait consistently over the four-year period, and, as with most of his paintings, he had others execute certain parts. It is known that he was also involved on other projects during this time.]

Here Vasari introduces the relatively unknown Francesco del Giocondo, his wife, and for the first time, the name “ … Mona Lisa …” He continues by stating that, after working on it for four years, Leonardo left the painting in unfinished condition, and that, in 1550, it was in the possession of King Francis I of France, at Fontainebleau. However, the painting that is today in the Louvre, generally believed to have been the one originally at Fontainebleau, is clearly finished.

“ Clearly, it was because of his profound knowledge of painting that Leonardo started so many things without finishing them; for he was convinced that his hands, for all their skill, could never perfectly express the subtle and wonderful ideas of his imagination. ” Giorgio Vasari, 1568

Vasari places the painting chronologically at Leonardo’s return to Florence, which was in 1500. Mona Lisa, born in 1479, was at that time a young woman in her early 20s.

VASARI INTRODUCES LISA

“ Leonardo undertook to execute, for Francesco del Giocondo, the portrait of Mona Lisa, his wife, and after he had lingered over it for four years, he left it unfinished; and the work is today in the possession of King Francis of France, at Fontainebleau. Anyone wishing to see the degree to which art could imitate nature could readily perceive this from the head; since therein are counterfeited all those minutenesses that with subtlety are able to be painted: seeing that the eyes had that lustre and moistness which are always seen in the living creature, and around them were the lashes and all those rosy and pearly tints that demand the greatest delicacy of execution. The eyebrows, through his having shown the manner in which the hairs spring from the flesh, here more close and here more scanty, and curve according to the pores of the flesh, could not be more natural. The nose, with its beautiful nostrils, rosy and tender, appeared to be alive. The mouth with its opening, and with its ends united by the red of the lips to the flesh-tints of the face, seemed, in truth, to be not colours but flesh. In the pit of the throat, if one gazed upon it intently, could be seen the beating of the pulse: and indeed it may be said that it was painted in such a manner as to make every brave artificer, be he who he may, tremble and lose courage. He employed also this device: Mona Lisa being very beautiful, while he was painting her portrait, he retained those who played or sang, and continually jested, who would make her to remain merry, in order to take away that melancholy which painters are often wont to give to their portraits. And in this work of Leonardo there was a smile so pleasing, that it was a thing more divine than human to behold, and it was held to be something marvelous, in that it was not other than alive. ”

Thus, Giorgio Vasari describes, in almost passionate detail, Leonardo’s portrait of ‘ Mona Lisa ’.

” … after he had lingered over it for four years, he left it unfinished … ” Giorgio Vasari, 1550.

This statement by Vasari, which was published more than thirty years after Leonardo’s death is all-important, as it sets a limit to the period upon which the master was at work upon the portrait. The painting being described then as unfinished, when one also considers that Heidelberg document, distinctly shows that he did not work on it after c.1506. This reconfirms what Vespucci had already predicted: that Leonardo painted a portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo and that he would leave it unfinished in the manner of Apelles. Let us remember that according to many experts, the Louvre version is in a style developed by Leonardo only after 1508 and was more likely executed after 1510.

The conundrum with Vasari is that some experts suggest that some of things he wrote may not have been entirely correct. Many of his facts, however, can now be cross-referenced with other material. His work has great value and insight therefore as long as it can be verified by other independent sources.

Reading through Vasari’s version of Leonardo’s life, there appears to be a large number of errors. To be completely objective, they are believed to be errors because of subsequent new evidence: they obviously were not errors for Vasari. In addition, there are glaring omissions of many years of Leonardo’s life. Vasari must have known of these gaps, and simply ignored them, perhaps for lack of information. Today, modern art historians can piece together Leonardo’s activities almost to the day; though it seems that there are still years of his life about which we know nothing.

There is no record of Leonardo having ever received payment for the portrait, nor is there any trace of it having been in del Giocondo’s estate which was described in great detail in his testament. It is therefore likely that Leonardo kept it in his possession when he left Florence in 1506. Leonardo likely never gave the portrait to Lisa’s husband, Francesco del Giocondo, and instead would have taken it with him throughout all his travels over the following ten years. In addition, recent dedicated scholarship confirms that the painting Vasari described in such detail is most likely not the one which was in Fontainebleau and which is now in the Louvre.

Vasari’s section on Mona Lisa must surely rank as one of the most beautiful descriptive passages for any painting. It is likely that such a description could only have been written by someone who had actually seen the work. Why, one wonders, does Vasari dedicate so much space, heart and soul to Mona Lisa? He certainly does not describe other Leonardo works so: his section on the ‘ Last Supper ’, one of the greatest masterpieces of all time, is primarily about the execution of the work; and the stunning portrait of Ginevra de Benci, referred to just before Mona Lisa merits barely a sentence: “… a very beautiful work .” It seems clear that Vasari did not see the de Benci painting, and that he most likely did personally see the ‘ Mona Lisa ’.

Other renowned experts agree: Sir Kenneth Clark, one of the 20th Century’s pre-eminent art historians, writes (in 1939): “ How exquisitely lovely the Mona Lisa must have been when Vasari saw her; for of course his description of her fresh rosy colouring must be perfectly accurate. ”

Professor R. Langton Douglas, respected British art critic, lecturer, author, and director of the National Gallery of Ireland writes (in 1944): “ I am firmly convinced that Vasari’s account of the ‘Monna Lisa’ is based on personal knowledge. ”

The Renaissance scholar, Professor Pietro Marani, concurs ( Leonardo da Vinci – The Complete Paintings 2000): “ … Vasari may have seen the work, for this description is too detailed to be considered the fruit merely of his imagination, despite the fact that he mentions eyelashes (which are absent from the painting) and fails to discuss the landscape. ” [Editor’s notes: With reference to the eyelashes, subsequent tests undertaken on ‘ Earlier Mona Lisa ’ have revealed, under intense new magnification techniques, traces of eyelashes. It is also likely that they would have originally existed. The landscape was most likely unfinished in Vasari’s time, and remains unfinished today.]

Vasari was well acquainted with Ippolito de’ Medici, the bastard son and only child of the Magnificent, Duke Giuliano. Vasari was born in the same year as Ippolito, 1511, studied with him in 1524, and followed him, then a Cardinal, to Rome in 1531. In fact, in the Dedication of the First Edition of his Vite (1550) “ to the most illustrious and most excellent Signor cosimo de Medici, Duke of Florence “, Vasari comments that he “ … was brought up under Cardinal Ippolito de Medici …” With this inside information we can be confident that Vasari knew nothing about the painting Leonardo had at Cloux, which is now in the Louvre.

Vasari makes no mention of the famous visit by Cardinal Luigi of Aragon to Leonardo that had occurred in France over 30 years previously; and though some connections that Leonardo had with Duke Giuliano de’ Medici are noted a few times in Leonardo’s biography, there is no reference to any painting that the Duke may have requested.

Historical evidence suggests that Salai, Leonardo’s long-time assistant, came back to Milan with the ‘ Earlier Mona Lisa ’ just before Leonardo’s death. [See Section ‘Salai’s Receipt and the Inventory’] While it seems highly unlikely that he would have seen the painting now in the Louvre, it is likely that Vasari saw the ‘ Earlier Mona Lisa ’ at some point while in the Lombard city, which he is documented to have travelled to on a number of occasions. Indeed, Vasari is not documented ever having travelled to, or visited any part of France. He was only 5 years old and still living in Arezzo where he was born, when Leonardo left Rome for the Loire Valley. Therefore Vasari most likely never saw any of the paintings that Leonardo brought there.

There is a simple explanation for Vasari’s account, given that we know now that he was mistaken and that it was in fact the finished Louvre ‘ Mona Lisa ’ which was in Fontainebleau. Vasari would have seen the ‘ Earlier Mona Lisa ’ during one of his earlier voyages to Milan, and heard that a Mona Lisa had entered the Royal collection. In 1550, he, like some art historians after him, simply assumed this was the same painting.

Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

Italian Painter, Architect, and Art Historian

Summary of Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

Missing the so-called High Renaissance period of Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo , and Raphael by almost a generation, Giorgio di Antonio Vasari emerged around the 1530s as an important link in the development of Italian Renaissance art. He is well respected as a painter and architect, especially in his frescos and his use of the Mannerism style to intensify his biblical narratives. Yet most commentators would agree that his great contribution to the history of Western art history came not via an artwork at all, but rather via a tome: The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects , first published in 1550. In The Lives (as it has become known), Vasari introduced for the first time the now familiar art historical convention of using biological models to bring meanings to specific artworks. According to scholar Andrew Ladis, Vasari turned Michelangelo (in particular) into "the triumphant savior of the arts, a figure of light" as he put it. Presenting a view on the Renaissance which persists to this day, The Lives decreed Vasari's era as the "rebirth" of art after the fall of Rome, with the works by proto-Renaissance artist Giotto representing the beginnings of art's aesthetic ascent.

Accomplishments

• Vasari was first and foremost a frugal businessman. He realized the part "artistic influence" could play in elevating the value attached to an artwork. His position helped initiate a shift in thinking that saw painters - or, rather, some special painters - occupy a higher status than mere artisan. If one could present themselves as an artist, then the greater their chances of achieving fame and financial security. His position was summed up in this remarkable address to his erstwhile colleagues and masters: "Once I was poor like all of you but now I have three thousand scudi or more. You considered me awkward (as a painter), but the friars and priests consider me an able master. Once I served you, and now I have a servant of my own, who looks after my horse. I used to dress in those rags worn by poor painters, and now I am dressed in velvet. Once I went on foot, and now I go on horseback."
• Vasari gained early notices for his commissioned portraiture. He favoured pastel tones to bring out a humanist and sympathetic quality in his venerated sitters. To the ends of posterity, he would also pepper his picture frame with symbolism that would connote the gravitas and status of the individual in question.
• Having invested in the ideals of tonal harmony in his portraits, Vasari turned towards the techniques of Mannerism in his religious painting. These compositions relied more on artifice - unnatural colors, abnormalities in, and elongations of, scale, exaggerations in contrast and so on - with the intent of creating a sense of high elegance and heightened drama within the picture narrative.
• As author of The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Volume one: 1550; Volume two: 1568) Vasari effectively gave birth to a populist art history. It was by coming to understand the life and times of the Florentine and Venetian masters, Vasari believed, that one could get to the essence of Renaissance art. The book followed in fact an already established tradition in biographical writing, but Vasari brought a new anecdotal edge to proceedings while at times supplying a moral judgment on the activities of the artists in question. Many scholars have criticized The Lives for its biases and its surfeit of factual inaccuracies and embellishments. But the principle that the history of art (and literature for that matter) could be understood through the exceptional deeds of divinely gifted individuals has stood firm. It is quite true that many radicals and revisionists have produced treaties that challenge this romanticized, "bourgeois", approach to art history, but it is the idea of the "biographical legend" that has done most to promote the pleasures of art appreciation across all classes of art lovers.

Important Art by Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici

Painted by Vasari at the age of 22, this is a portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici - also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent - the Italian Statesman and famous ruler of Florence. De' Medici was held by many, including da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, to be the most important patron of the Renaissance art. He is shown here seated wearing a blue tunic with ermine sleeves surrounded by objects glorifying his reign with Latin inscriptions. The inscription on the vase reads "virtutum omnium vas" (the vessel of all the virtues) which sits on top of the mask of Vice. To his left is the mask of Music with a flute protruding from an eye. The inscription on the column reads "As my ancestors did for me, I honor them by my virtue". Hanging on his belt is a red purse as a symbol of his role as a financier and banker to the Papacy. As Vasari wrote: "My intention [was] to include in this portrait every ornament significant of the great qualities that made him illustrious in life and show that all his honors were solely of this own attainment." The portrait was commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, the Second duke of Florence (1537-74) in waiting, as an act of homage (Lorenzo had died in 1492, aged just 43) for one of his most powerful and revered ancestors. Vasari was pleased to oblige his most important patron and acknowledged his debt to the Medici family for their patronage throughout his life. Although an accurate rendering of its subject, Vasari is known to have disliked painting portraits, preferring compositions in which he could avoid a focus on the detail necessary to achieve a likeness of the sitter. We see in this work that Vasari managed to reveal a pensive and powerful patron of the arts. This image, painted in subdued colors, shows Vasari's ability to encourage the viewer's empathy in understanding his subject's power and humility. Lorenzo de' Medici was in fact painted by many important artists of the Renaissance including Verrocchio, Botticelli , Ghirlandaio , as well as Leonardo da Vinci in his Portrait of Lorenzo of 1500, and Bronzino .

Tempera on wood - The Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Allegory of the Immaculate Conception

The subject of the painting is salvation which is explained by the scrolls carried by angels on either side of Mary: "Those who Eve's fault condemned, Mary's grace set free." Mary is bathed in splendor, with the moon at her feet. In the bottom half of the painting we see Adam and Eve tied to the Tree of Original Sin, surrounded by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua and David and other prophets from the Old Testament. Samuel and St John the Baptist are shown bound only by one hand "because they were blessed in the womb." Allegory of the Immaculate Conception was commissioned by Bindo Altoviti, a Florentine banker, for the family chapel at the Church of Santi Apostoli in Florence. As Vasari himself acknowledged, "I had not executed any work up to that time with more study or with more lovingness and labour." He is said, however, not to have been satisfied with what he achieved despite the time and effort he had put in. Indeed, one of the important paintings of religious subjects by Vasari, it is also one of the most difficult to read due to the excessive number of allegorical symbols contained within the frame. It also calls on the influence of Raphael in the upper part of the painting in which Mary is carried to the heavens by a group of angels; and Michelangelo, in the fluidity and dynamism in the allegorical figures in the bottom half of the painting.

Six Tuscan Poets

As its title suggests, this painting shows six famous poets and philosophers from 13 th and 14 th century Tuscany engaged in conversation. They converse - as they wrote - in the Tuscan language. It shows Dante Alighieri (most famous for his poem about the afterlife, The Divine Comedy ) seated, facing Guido Cavalcanti, a poet famed for his love sonnets. To his right is the humanist scholar, Francesco Petrarch holding a copy of his Scattered Rhymes . Between them is Giovanni Boccaccio, author of the Decameron , and to the far left are the humanist, Marsilio Ficino and the philosopher, Cristoforo Landino. The four great poets of the Italian language wear laurel wreaths as a symbol of honor. In front of Dante is a table with objects of learning; the solar quadrant and celestial globe representing astronomy, a compass representing geometry, a terrestrial globe for geography, and books for rhetoric. Vasari received the commission from Luca Martini in 1543 to paint this picture as to announce the cultural supremacy of Tuscany, and to help raise Italian over Latin as the language of Italian culture. Dante holds a copy of Virgil, one of the great Latin poets, to remind the audience that all six poets in the painting were in fact masters of the Latin language. This was an important detail because some critics have suggested that the men had written in Italian because they were not well versed in Latin. This painting is then an important historical reference to the debate current to the times over the literary standing of the poets and the merits of Italian literature. As Vasari wrote in his The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects , "Tuscan genius has ever been raised high above all others."

Oil on Panel - Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, United States

Deposition from the Cross

This painting was commissioned by the monks of the Camaldoli monastic order for their monastery just outside Florence. It shows Christ's descent from the cross, known as the Deposition of Christ, a subject which was popular for many Renaissance artists, and includes notable examples from Giotto, Fra Angelico, Raphael, Tintoretto and Caravaggio. It shows Christ being taken down from the cross after the crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, accompanied by St John the Evangelist. At the bottom left of the painting we see Mary clothed in blue, in the arms of Mary Magdalene, and surrounded by other witnesses. It is interesting to note that Mary is shown fainting. This was a medieval narrative promulgated by the popular book, Meditations on the Life of Christ (c. 1300) and repeated here in Vasari's commission. This narrative was however discouraged by the Counter Reformation with the Council of Trent in 1563. The painting itself marked a change in direction for Vasari. It belongs to the Mannerist style, a technique which took hold towards the end of the High Renaissance in the 1520s. Vasari was here less interested in the subdued tones and subtle shading that characterized his portraits. Here rather he relies on forced perspective, exaggeration and the technique of chiaroscuro lighting to intensify the drama in his painting.

Oil on Canvas - Santi Donato e Ilariano, Camaldoli, Tuscany, Italy

Il Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred)

This is probably the most famous arrangement of Vasari frescos. Collectively they demonstrate his mastery and understanding of the Mannerist style. This great hall, 54 meters long, 23 meters wide and 18 meters high, is the largest and most important room in the Palazzo Vecchio. The Palazzo was originally commissioned by Fra Girolamo Savonarola in 1494 to house the 500 members of the Grand Council of Florence after the Medici were ousted in that year. The hall, built in accordance with the austerity preached by Savonarola, was plain, with little scope for decoration. When Savonarola was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1498, however, his successor, Piero Soderini, commissioned da Vinci and Michelangelo to paint two murals, The Battle of Anghiari and The Battle of Cascina respectively, neither of which were completed. When the Medici returned to Florence in 1512 the hall had fallen into disuse until Cosimo I moved his residence into the Palazzo Vecchio in 1540 and used it to receive ambassadors and public audiences. Cosimo I commissioned Vasari to enlarge and decorate the hall with frescos to celebrate important moments in the history of Florence, and to celebrate his achievements, emphasising his eminence as Duke of Florence. Vasari enlarged the hall by raising the ceiling by seven meters and decorated the hall with frescos comprising 43 panels, 39 of which form the decoration of the ceiling. Despite being separate panels, each with its own motif, Vasari retained harmony and coherence in the fresco through the consistent use of gold, red and brown colors throughout. The centrepiece of the fresco is the depiction of Cosimo I in all his glory as Duke of Florence. This was an important political statement to all who saw it since it symbolized the rebirth of Florence. The other panels on the walls include allegories of Florence and Tuscany, and episodes in the wars of Pisa and Sienna; wars in which Cosimo I was victorious.

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

The Vasari Corridor ( Corridoio Vasariano )

Most of Vasari's architectural work was undertaken in Florence (though he also worked on projects in Pisa, Arezzo and Rome). Vasari would work alone or in collaboration on projects with other architects. Arguably his most important collaboration was with Bartolomeo Ammannati with whom he worked on the façade of the Uffizi , the centralized administration building of Cosimo I de' Medici (completed in 1560, the Uffizi 's conversion to a major museum specializing in Italian art began some twenty years later). In 1565, Vasari then worked alone on what is known as the Vasari Corridor ( Corridoio Vasariano ), an enclosed passageway that linked the Palazzo Vecchio, the townhall that overlooks the Piazza della Signoria (and the seat of the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici government) and the Palazzo Pitti, the Duke's regal residence. The Vasari Corridor was conceived by Vasari as a prodigious regal footpath; an exclusive passageway fit to deliver a ruler of integrity and potency to the very heart of his dominion. It was built (over a period of only five months) to commemorate the wedding of Francesco I de' Medici and Giovanna of Austria. Moving northward, it connects the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti and its practical function was to link the residence of the Grand Duke, the Pitti Palace , and the Uffizi from where he conducted his business. The covered overhead corridor is almost a kilometre in length, passing from Plazzo Vecchio, through the Uffizi , following the Arno river north, until it crosses the Arno (and the medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge) at Ponte Vecchio. On the other side of the river, the corridor passes through the interior of the church of Santa Felicita, through the Boboli Gardens, over domestic rooftops, before reaching the Palace. Legend tells it that the corridor passed over a meat market and that the market was replaced in 1593 with goldsmiths (who still trade there to this day) so as to save the incumbent Grand Duke from the unpleasant smell on his daily journeys to-and-from his office. Today, the corridor, which can only be visited by appointment, is home to some 1000 paintings dating from the 17 th and 18 th century. It also displays many self-portraits from the 16 th to 20 th century including works by Andrea del Sarto, Beccafumi, Bernini, Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, Rubens, Canova, Ingres, Delacroix and many others.

Palazzo Pitti (Pitti Palace), Florence

The Last Judgement

This fresco was commissioned by Cosimo I in 1568 for the cupola of the Cathedral in Florence, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. It comprises a space of approximately 4000 square meters and it was the last major commission undertaken by Vasari before his death in 1574. Up until then, Vasari had only been able to complete the upper part of the decoration representing the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse. Frederico Zuccari, a painter who had studied with Correggio, was commissioned to complete the work which would take a further five years to complete. While Vasari used a pure fresco technique which required the painting to be made on freshly applied wet plaster - thus becoming part of the wall itself - Zuccari used the Fresco-secco technique: a technique of painting onto dry plaster which is much less durable than pure fresco. Vasari forbade artists to retouch their wall paintings after they had dried which, in his words, ''aside from being an extremely vile act [it] also shortens the life of the work.'' (In Zuccari's defence, his use of the lesser secco technique was imposed on him because of strict time restrictions.) Although not completed by Vasari, it was he who had designed the Fresco which reads with figures of Christ and the Madonna up in the heavens circling down to the world of demons and the torment of the Hell and thus symbolizing the theme of redemption. Divided into six concentric circles, the upper most circle has the 24 elders of the Apocalypse, a group of saints, representations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the virtues and the eight Beatitudes (the blessings in the Sermon of the Mount), with the last tier, a vision of Hell full of tormented sinners. What is most remarkable about this fresco is that we see the contrast of styles between Vasari and Zuccari. Vasari's effort offers balance and harmony, a supreme example of the elegance characteristic of the late 16 th century. Zuccari's input, however, despite his reputation as an expert draughtsman, seems out of balance and lacks the finish or finesse of the figures of the Elders. As Dr. Acidini, one of the art historians who supervised the restoration of the fresco, commented, "If I didn't know these scenes so well, I would almost say that they were by Francis Bacon or one of the German Expressionists." Of Vasari's excellence, he countered, "In terms of fresco technique Vasari is second to no one. Not even to Michelangelo."

Fresco - Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral), Florence

Biography of Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari, the eldest of six children, was born in 1511 into a middle-class family living in the Arezzo region of Tuscany. Giorgio's artistic leanings were passed down to him through the generations of family members. His great-grandfather Lazzaro Vasari had been a versatile artiste: a potter, a creator of decorated saddles, a painter of miniatures, and later, under the influence of his mentor Piero della Francesco, a fresco painter. Vasari's grandfather, after whom Giorgio was named, was less of an all-rounder but, like Antonio, he too was an accomplished potter. Vasari had been especially close to his great uncle, Luca Signorelli, himself a sitter for della Francesco's teachings and his perspective drawing. Indeed, little Giorgio had been a sickly child, stricken with frequent nosebleeds (and possibly severe eczema). Vasari would tell the story of how Signorelli would try to staunch his nosebleeds by applying a folk remedy that involved holding "a piece of red jasper to my neck with infinite tenderness."

According to scholar Leon Satkowski, Vasari's early schooling was "uncustomarily rich in classical studies," which would later support the artist's advocacy for the Classical underpinnings of the Italian Renaissance. Fluency in Latin was considered a cornerstone of Arezzo public education, and by the age of twelve Vasari could recite long passages from Virgil's Aeneid from memory. In Arezzo, Vasari also learned drawing techniques from Guillaume de Marcillat, a French craftsman, stained glass artist and panel painter. Yet despite being raised within such a long line of artisans, and despite his refined early schooling, Vasari would need to move to Florence if he was to develop true expertise in the fields of art and architecture.

Early Training and Work

By 1524, Vasari left Arezzo to take up a Florentine apprenticeship. This opportunity arose as a consequence of Vasari's family ties to the Medici family, an Italian banking family and political dynasty who were at that time the most influential of all the patrons of the arts. Vasari enjoyed additional patronage from one Silvio Passerini, Cardinal of Cortona, papal legate to Florence, and tutor to Medici heirs Ippolito and Alessandro. Passerini had visited Arezzo in 1523 and had been so moved by the boy's recitation of the Aeneid , and so admiring of the promise he showed in his drawings, that Cardinal extended an apprenticeship invitation to the young Vasari.

Once in Florence, Vasari studied literature alongside the Medici heirs, and trained in Michelangelo Buonarroti's workshop. Though Vasari's apprenticeship with Michelangelo lasted only a matter of months, his esteemed tutor was sufficiently taken with the young apprentice's talent that he secured a place for Vasari in the painter Andrea del Sarto's workshop in 1525. Vasari preferred the training he received under Michelangelo and was frustrated with what he felt was del Sarto's wife Lucrezia's interference with the studio's working environment. Vasari soon left del Sarto's employ for a short-lived spell in the workshop of sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, an artist who Vasari came to despise (and who he vilified in the 2 nd edition of The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects ).

In 1527 Vasari's father succumbed to the plague. The 16-year-old took over responsibility for the management of the family's financial affairs and he learned out of necessity to be meticulous in his accounting. Though something of an unwelcome responsibility at the time, the experience helped him appreciate the financial security that artistic status could bring. According to Satkowski, Vasari "set out early and deliberately to make himself an artist of influence," surrounding himself indeed with authors, architects, and artists of renown and developing a shrewd eye for cultivating patrons.

In 1531 Vasari's Florentine friend and former schoolmate, the now Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, asked the artist to join him, Vasari's close friend Francesco Salviati, and the Medici entourage in Rome. Vasari viewed this time in Rome as his golden age, where he and his colleagues spent their days drawing and studying Roman ruins, monuments, buildings, statues and the Vatican's Raphael and Michelangelo frescoes. A year later, the 21-year-old Vasari joined the Florentine painters' guild and he would become instrumental in elevating the guild's prestige.

Mature Period

Scholar Leon Satkowski presents a biographical picture of Vasari as something of a narcissist. He was on the one hand "loyal, hard-working, and totally committed to the political aspirations of his patrons." On the other, he was known to have an "obsequious personality" which "did not make him universally popular". Vasari could be at once "confident," "proud," "hypersensitive to criticism," and "desirous of recognition and respectability." He could also show a level of impatience that "bordered on paranoia." When combined, these "qualities" would account for his impressive professional savvy.

Vasari's employ with the Medici family was long-standing, and profitable both for his family - the Medici family sponsored one of his sister's dowries, for instance - as well as for him personally. In 1536, Alessandro de' Medici paid Vasari four hundred ducats for his work, and also, according to Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney, "assigned him the revenue from fines levelled at artists who failed to fulfil their commissions, a further three hundred ducats a year": Vasari had become a financial success at the age of only 25.

There is a popular argument that Vasari might have been a better architect than painter. However, according to Satkowski, Vasari "lacked conventional training in architecture and came to it relatively late in his distinguished career." His interest in architecture arrived first through personal experience with architectural masterworks and architects; his training as a painter and his Classical background would have also exposed him to imagery of architectural works and the works of Vitruvius, whose work was translated into Italian vernacular in 1521. According to Vasari himself, it was only in his twenties (c. 1536) that he sought out formal study of architecture. Vasari's buildings are characterized by their diversity in type, meanings, and style. He placed particular emphasis on his buildings' symbolism and conceptual ideas, and, in Satkowski's terms, provided "virtuoso solutions to the complexities posed by their urban sites."

Late Period

In 1550, Vasari published his seminal text, The Lives of the Most Eminent Sculptors, Painters, and Architects , in collaboration with his friend Vincenzo Borghini as well as local experts. Despite its manifest shortcomings, the text crystalized the ideology of the Renaissance as the aesthetic progression out of the Dark Ages of the Medieval era and into an enlightened return to Classical ideals. It became a cornerstone of art historiography and the periodization of the Renaissance style. Vasari had conceptualized The Lives of the Most Eminent Sculptors, Painters, and Architects around 1545, using both Plutarch's Parallel Lives (100 AD), which compared Greek to Roman notable men, and Vitruvius' Ten Books of Architecture (30-15 BC) as his key inspirations. The Lives was thus envisioned as an ideological foundation for a Florentine art school. A second edition of The Lives was published in 1568 and, in this version, Vasari afforded Venetian artists (including Titian ) their rightful place in the development of the Renaissance. Vasari had hoped that his original tome would guarantee his application to join Duke Cosimo de' Medici's court, though that honor would be denied him until 1554.

Given his difficult personality, Vasari was ripe for criticism and public reproach. Around the time of the first publication of The Lives , there were public accusations, in Satkowski's words, of "insalubrious habits," as well as concerns that the architect was imbibing of too much wine and becoming careless with money. These accusations, regardless of their authenticity, posed a risk to Vasari's career because they called into question his credibility and moral fitness for the first time. With important commissions now under threat, Vasari needed to shore up his public standing, and though "psychologically ill-prepared" and warned off doing so by his peers, Vasari wed Nicolosa Bacci, the daughter of a prominent apothecary in Arezzo, in 1550. Vasari had previously had an affair with Nicolosa's sister Maddalena, with two children resulting from this premarital union. His marriage to Nicolosa came in fact hard on the heels of Maddalena's death. Yet despite the views of the naysayers, and though often apart, Vasari was fond of his wife and was rueful of the fact that their union remained childless.

Vasari's architectural career truly began after his admittance into the Duke Cosimo's court (in 1554), and he designed and executed many buildings and city plans both for Cosimo and for the Pope. He would also remodel church interiors, amongst them, the Gothic Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, which, under the instruction of the Council of Trent, he rebuilt with the aim of bettering the congregation's ability to see and hear the services. Vasari also took on the task of designing, rebuilding, and organizing the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence, which included Cosimo's private quarters, his assembly rooms, and the offices destined for his administrators, the Uffizi . Vasari was subsequently instrumental in ensuring that Duke Cosimo approve the establishment of the Accademia e Compagnia dell'Arte di Disgeno. The Accademia took its model of an ideal artist and its educational program from The Lives and aspired to educate artists in artistic skills as well as in literature and science. From Pope Pius V, Vasari received the honor of becoming a Knight of Saint Peter in 1571.

Vasari died on June 27, 1574 at the age of 63. He was buried in a chapel he had designed for himself in the church of Santa Maria in Arezzo.

The Legacy of Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

Vasari's greatest legacy is his 1550 text, The Lives of the Most Eminent Sculptors, Painters, and Architects , a seminal document which contributed to the formation of art history as a viable academic discipline. From then till now, artists and scholars have drawn on The Lives as an important, albeit problematic, and often apocryphal, guide to the Italian Renaissance and its origins. Annotated copies of The Lives have been found in the libraries of artists such as El Greco , Annibale Caracci , and Frederico Zuccaro, and its alphabetical recordings of artist biographies ensured that there is a record of female Renaissance artists who might have otherwise been neglected: including Sofonisba Anguissola and her sisters, and Properzia de' Rossi of Bologna.

The Lives used each artist's biography as an entry point to understand his or her work, a technique which was unique in Vasari's time but now a commonplace art historical methodology. Vasari structured each of his artist profiles within an identifiable progression, beginning with the artist's birthplace and family history; then rigorous, dedicated training; and then details and anecdotes about professional success and aesthetic significance. Vasari painted a portrait of an ideal artist who was financial savvy and successful, by right, and who conducted himself of herself morally. Scholars Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney describe the text as "part historical urban legend, part morality tale," as Vasari showed "that talent is not enough to build a career: persistence counts too." Through Vasari, artists transcended their status as mere craftsmen, and instead "became thinkers as well as makers." The Lives was, however, biased towards Tuscan and particularly Florentine artists and artists whose works fit Vasari's ideal. He went someway to remedy his geographical imbalance with his second volume (1568) that acknowledged the role of Venetian artists in the development of the Renaissance.

As an avid collector of drawings, Vasari also contributed to the popularization of drawings as worthwhile aesthetic documents, rather than preparatory material to be discarded. He maintained books (now lost) entitled Libri dei Disegni (Books of Drawings) in which he organized and displayed drawings by artists he admired. So the story goes, Vasari saved Michelangelo's drawings from his attempt to burn them over an open fire, an attempt by Michelangelo to conceal from posterity the hard work and preparation that might damage the idea that it was his creative spontaneity that produced his greatest masterpieces.

Influences and Connections

Useful Resources on Giorgio di Antonio Vasari

• The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art Our Pick By Noah Charney & Ingrid Rowland
• Giorgio Vasari: The Man and the Book Our Pick By Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase
• Giorgio Vasari: Architect and Courtier By Leon Satkowski & Ralph Lieberman
• The Lives of the Artists Our Pick By Giorgio Vasari
• The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects By Giorgio Vasari
• Vasari on Technique By Giorgio Vasari
• Great Masters By Giorgio Vasari
• The Frescoes of Casa Vasari in Florence: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Understanding, Conserving, Exploiting and Promoting Our Pick By Umberto Baldini & Pietro Alessandro Vigato
• 58 Color Paintings of Giorgio Vasari - Italian Renaissance Painter By Jacek Michalak
• Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250-1743 By Ross King & Anja Grebe
• "Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects"
• How Giorgio Vasari Invented Art History as We Know It By Deborah Solomon / The New York Times / December 1, 2017
• 'The Collector of Lives' Taught Us the Art of Art History By Cammy Brothers / The Wall Street Journal / Oct. 13, 2017
• Last judgement on Vasari fresco By Andrew Gumbel / The Independent / June 25, 1995
• Travels with Vasari (Part 1) Our Pick By Andrew Graham-Dixon
• Travels with Vasari (Part 2) By Andrew Graham-Dixon
• Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists (In Our Time) Our Pick By Melvyn Bragg
• The Battle of Marciano (1565), in the Hall of the 500 in the Palazzo Vecchio plays an important role in Dan Brown's novel Inferno, specifically the inscription "Cerca trova" (seek and find) and its anagram "catrovacer."

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Content compiled and written by Zaid Sethi

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Antony Todd

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Giorgio Vasari, the father of art history

Posted 18 Jun 2017, by Andrew Greg

On Father’s Day, us art historians should remember the painter, architect and biographer  Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574).

The Temptation of Saint Jerome 1546

Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574)

Why? 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.

Everyone who has studied the history of art will have heard of Vasari. Although he may not be a household name, if you have been to Florence and visited the Uffizi gallery, which was designed by him, you will have seen in its endless corridors the work of the artists whose lives he told with lively anecdotes, and whose paintings he described and assessed.

The Holy Family with Saint John

It is due to Vasari that we owe the conventional art historical view of the Italian Renaissance (and thus western art) as having originated, been developed and brought to perfection in Tuscany – in particular Florence – and in Rome. According to Vasari, the achievements of Greek and Roman architects, sculptors, painters and poets were lost in the Middle Ages and only began to be revived in Tuscany in the fourteenth century. The arts were reset on their true path by Cimabue and Giotto , progressed by artists such as Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio , and bought to perfection in his own time by Raphael , Leonardo and Vasari’s idol Michelangelo . 450 years later, this trio are still recognised as the greatest masters of western art and many of his other judgements have also stood the test of time.

The Head of a Bishop (possibly Saint Ambrose or Saint Donato) 1569

Born in Arezzo, Tuscany, Vasari was a bright boy, classically trained and encouraged in drawing by his distant cousin Luca Signorelli. He went to Florence in 1524 to study under the patronage of the ruling Medicis with Andrea del Sarto . In 1529 he visited Rome and studied the work of Raphael and artists of the Roman High Renaissance. He was patronised by the Medicis in Florence and worked there and in Rome, most successfully as a decorative painter in palaces and cathedrals, including the Vatican. He was also a talented architect and in 1563 helped found the Florence Academy. But the reputation of Vasari’s own paintings, heavily influenced by Michelangelo, declined in the following centuries.

An Allegory of the Immaculate Conception c. 1540

Vasari was encouraged to compile his Lives of the Artists when he was in Rome in 1546. With the help of numerous contributors and his own enormous visual memory, his monumental book follows the belief of his times – that the purpose of art is the imitation and perfection of nature and that progress in art can be measured by how far it achieves this aim. In the first edition the credit for this progress is biased heavily in favour of the Florentines: the book is dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici, who wanted Florence to be seen as the centre of world culture and civilisation.

The Adoration of the Magi 1566–1567

He is careless with dates, some of his anecdotes are hearsay or traditional myths, but, particularly with the artists of his own day, he is still a fundamental source of information on Renaissance art. His biographical model of art history, with its interest in personality and character as well as achievement, was influential across Europe in the seventeenth century. His approach informed art historical writing well into the twentieth century – Gombrich’s bestseller The Story of Art begins: 'There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists.'

Andrew Greg, National Inventory Research Project, University of Glasgow

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Guide To the Works of Giorgio Vasari, the Man Who Invented Art History

Giorgio Vasari was a renowned Florentine architect, artist, and art historian who left an indelible mark on the High Renaissance era. His influence on the world of art and architecture is immeasurable.

Vasari’s most famous work is his book, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects . It established him as the world’s first modern art historian. In this juicy treatise, he chronicled the lives and works of many of the greatest artists of the time.

Although Vasari was highly esteemed during his lifetime as a painter and architect, his artistic abilities were considered average when compared to the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Nevertheless, he was a supremely talented and multi-faceted Renaissance man.

Vasari found his greatest success as an architect and designer of large-scale decorative projects. He had a talent for admiration, which may have made his artwork seem derivative, but served him well as a biographer.

In short, Giorgio Vasari was an important figure in the world of art and architecture during the High Renaissance, whose legacy lives on through his writings and stunning decorative projects.

A Short Biography of Vasari

So who is Giorgio Vasari?

We know about Vasari’s life because he wrote his own autobiography in The Lives . Vasari was born in 1511 in Arezzo, a quaint town in Tuscany just southeast of Florence . He was born to a family of potters.

Spurning the family vocation, Giorgio was inspired by his great uncle Luca Signorelli , a talented Florentine artist. Signorelli nurtured his interest in drawing. In The Lives , Vasari credits Signorelli with showing “the way to represent nude figures in painting so as to make them appear alive.”

Vasari describes himself as a frail child with nose bleeds. He studied Latin in his youth and could recite passages of Virgil from memory. Vasari was extremely literate for his day and thus well qualified to write The Lives .

Vasari was sent to Florence in 1525. He entered the workshop of the talented Andrea del Sarto, joining his pupils Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo Pontormo. But Vasari was most strongly influenced by Michelangelo.

READ : Guide To the Michelangelo Trail in Florence

Vasari became a Mannerist, or late Renaissance, painter. Mannerism departed from the classicism of the High Renaissance.

It was a bridge between the idealized style of Renaissance art and the dramatic theatricality of the Baroque. It was less naturalistic, with elongated (sometimes rubbery looking) bodies in strained poses.

The Medici were expelled from Florence in 1527 by the mad monk Savonarola. Vasari traveled to Rome and Arezzo in the interim. Vasari returned to Florence when the Medici returned to power in 1532. They would become his foremost patron.

READ : History of the Medici Dynasty

From 1532-49, Vasari spent time in Rome, where he was inspired to write The Lives . In 1546, he received an important commission for the Palazzo della Cancellaria in Rome.

Vasari finished writing The Lives in 1547. Who knows where he found the time to write he was so busy with commissions … Vasari dedicated his book to to Cosimo I de’ Medici, Florence’s first Grand Duke, when it was published in 1550.

In 1554, Vasari took on his biggest project for Cosimo, the remodeling of the Palazzo Vecchio. Vasari would go on to renovate almost every building and church in Florence.

Vasari was highly thought of as an artist and architect in his lifetime. Because of his Medici patronage and the success of The Lives , he amassed a considerable fortune. With it, Vasari designed, built, and frescoed his own house in Arezzo. (It’s now a museum.) Vasari was even elected “mayor” of Arezzo.

READ : Guide To the Best Art in Tuscany

In 1563, along with the Cosimo I and Michelangelo, he helped to launch the Academy of Art in Florence, with 36 artist members. The academy became a school for artists, a place for education and training.

It was the forerunner of the official salon that dominated painting until Monet and the Impressionists protested. The school is still there, part of the Accademia Gallery that houses Michelangelo’s David .

Vasari died in 1574 in Florence at age 63. He was buried in a chapel that he designed in Arezzo. Vasari left his stamp on the city of Florence, as few artists had before him.

15 Best Art Works By Giorgio Vasari

Let’s delve into Vasasri’s greatest works of art, architecture, and literature. Though he’s best known for The Lives , writing wasn’t his day job. He was prolific in his own right as an artist, producing some must see masterpieces in Italy .

1. The Lives

The Lives is Vasari’s greatest work and legacy. It’s the most influential book about art ever written.

The Lives is an encyclopedic collection of all of Renaissance Italy’s major and minor artists. The book contains a mass of factual information, anecdote, and opinion.

No one before Vasari had ever written an artist biography. In its day, The Lives served as a guidebook to Italian art. Today, art historians still use The Lives as a primary source.

Vasari was the ultimate insider artist. He knew the artists of the time personally. He was in a prime position to watch the Renaissance unfold in the 16th century.

Without his treatise and enormous visual memory, the world would have little insight into Renaissance artists and good Renaissance gossip. Vasari became the defining chronicler of his era.

The Lives offers a group portrait of 300 years of the Italian Renaissance. Vasari starts with Cimabue in the 13th century. After Cimabue, Vasari considers the period of the early Renaissance — shaped by Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Masaccio, all of whom he admired.

Then, Vasari moves on to High Renaissance, dominated by the titanic trio of Leonardo , Raphael , and Michelangelo . He ends with Michelangelo, Vasari’s oft-declared favorite and his friend.

Michelangelo has, by far, the longest biography in The Lives . 500 years later, those artists are still recognized as titans of Western art.

In his master work, Vasari coined the term “Renaissance,” which means rebirth. By that term, he distinguished Renaissance art from prior (and inferior) “Gothic” works, a term he also invented. Vasari gave us insight into the lives of the era’s artists and gossip about their petty rivalries and scandals.

Vasari’s vignettes were notoriously untrustworthy. If the facts weren’t juicy enough, he’d embellish the tale. Sometimes he intentionally provided inaccurate information or repeated unproven legends.

Vasari was also famously careless with dates. But a high percentage of his views and opinions have stood the test of time.

Among other tidbits in The Lives, Vasari: (1) claimed that Raphael died from too much sex; (2) identified the subject of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa ; (3) told us about Michelangelo’s broken nose from a rival; (4) described the intense competition and squabbles for Florence Cathedral’s dome commission; (5) explained how Michelangelo slept in his cloths and didn’t bother to shower; and (6) how young Leonardo depicted an angel so beautiful that his master Verrocchio gave up painting.

READ : Everything To Know About Leonardo’s Mona Lisa

The first edition of the book focused almost exclusively on Florence, the “Cradle of the Renaissance.” It ignored the rise of the Renaissance in Venice and northern Europe.

But Vasari published a second edition published in 1568, after traveling throughout Italy and doing more research. In it, he corrected this omission and features artists like Titian and Durer.

The 1568 edition was also more comprehensive and more factual, with less anecdotes. In 1598, woodcut portraits of the artists were added and the book was republished.

2. Frescos in the Hall of Five Hundred: Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

The Palazzo Vecchio ‘s main reception room is the Hall of the Five Hundred, called the Salone dei Cinquecento. The name derived from the 500 man assembly that met there in pre-Medici Florence. The hall is the largest room in Italy built for a palace.

In the mid 16th century, Vasari lavishly remodeled the then spartan hall. He painted massive frescos depicting the The Battle of Marciano , in which Florence triumphed over rivals Pisa and Siena . In 1565, Vasari also painted the 39 gilded ceiling panels, telling the life story of Cosimo I.

But before Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to fresco the great hall. His painting was allegedly a melting masterpiece, with Leonardo trying a new and failing fresco technique. Leonardo never finished the commission and moved to Milan .

READ : Guide To the Leonardo Trail in Milan

Legend holds that, instead of painting over Leonardo’s unfinished work, Vasari built a false wall over the fresco to preserve it. Then, he painted The Battle of Marciano on the false wall. Only 15 known Leonardo’s exist, making this possibility tantalizing.

Preliminary investigations suggest Leonardo’s work may indeed lie hidden beyond the false wall. But, to date, further investigation is halted. Historians are hesitant to damage Vasari’s frescos in favor of possible Leonardo frescos.

READ : Battle of the Battle Frescos

3. Frescos in the Apartment of the Elements: Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

On the second floor of the Palazzo Vecchio are the sumptuously decorated private rooms of the Medici. They consist of two loggias and five rooms — the Hall of the Elements, the Hall of Opi, the Hall of Ceres, the Hall of Jupiter, the Terrace of Juno, the Hall of Hercules, the Scrittoio di Minerva, and the Terrace of Saturn.

All the rooms are decorated with allegorical frescoes. They were begun by Battista del Taso and finished by Vasari. This was Vasari’s first (of many) commission from the Medici.

The highlight is the Room of the Elements, Sala deli Elementi, the first of five rooms that make up the quarters of Cosimo I. It’s decorated with gorgeous mythological paintings created by Vasari and his workshop in 1556-66. They were recently restored and the colors just pop.

The paintings symbolize the ancient elements of air, water, fire, and earth. The main figure in each picture is an antique god. For a fine view of Florence, you can step out onto the Loggiato di Saturno in Cosimo’s quarters.

4. The Last Judgment: Dome of Florence Cathedral, Florence

Vasari and his workshop painted the fresco of The Last Judgment from 1572-79 on the dome of Florence Cathedral . It was Vasari’s last commission for the Medici. The frescos were cleaned and restored in 1996.

Covering some 3,6000 square meters, the fresco is the largest one in the world. Originally, the architect Brunelleschi wanted his dome covered in gold mosaics like the Florence Baptistery . But that plan was never realized.

120 years after Brunelleschi’s death, Cosimo I commissioned Vasari to fresco the dome. The Last Judgment is divided in to five zones. Enthroned in the center is Christ, the judge. The various levels, separated by bands, show the other players in the drama — the elders of the apocalypse, saints, member of the Medici family, and the damned in hell.

In their monumentality, the figures floating against the background of heaven are reminiscent of those of Michelangelo, who Vasari revered. Michelanglo’s The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel was Vasari’s inspiration. Vasari died 2 years into the project. It was finished by Frederico Zuccari.

If you’re climbing the dome, about 2/3 of the way up is a viewing ledge at the base of the drum where you can see the frescos.

READ : Complete Guide To Visiting Florence Cathedral and Climbing the Dome

5. Vasari Corridor, Florence

Built in 1564 by Vasari, the Vasari Corridor is a one kilometer elevated passageway above the Ponte Vecchio. It’s an ingenious regal footpath, commissioned by Cosimo I for the marriage of his son, Francesco I, to Joan of Austria.

The Vasari Corridor connected the Palazzo Vecchio (government headquarters) to the Pitti Palace (the Medici’s official residence). It served as a private walkway for the Medici and high ranking individuals. This way, they were safe and didn’t have to deal with the riff raff of Florence. The Vasari Corridor was unique for its time.

READ : Guide To the Pitti Palace

Inside the corridor, you’ll find the portrait collection of the Uffizi Gallery. There’s over 1000 paintings, including works by Filippo Lippi, Rembrandt, Velazquez, and Delacroix.

The Vasari Corridor is currently closed, with a 10 million euro renovation ongoing. It’s scheduled to open to the public via a special ticket in 2023. In the interim, you can walk in the Grand Duke’s footsteps on YouTube here .

6. Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Most of Vasari’s architectural work was undertaken in Florence (although he did work on projects in Pisa , Arezzo , and Rome ). Vasari would work alone or collaborate with other architects.

Commissioned by Cosimo, Vasari’s most important collaboration was with Bartolomeo Ammannati. Together, they worked on the facade of the Uffizi Gallery.

Vasari’s design for the building — calm and classic grandeur — drew inspiration from ancient Roman architecture and Michelangelos Laurentian Library and New Sacristy in the Basilica of San Lorenzo . Vasari created a highly distinctive building, which would become as emblematic of Florence as the Palazzo Vecchio and Florence Cathedral.

At the time, the Uffizi served as the offices for the Florentine bureaucracy. The loggia of the Palazzo degli Uffizi with its unified architectural treatment is the perfect example of urban planning. It functions like a public piazza.

Twenty years later, Vasari was instrumental in urging Cosimo to make the Uffizi a major museum specializing in Italian art. Here’s my complete guide to the magnificent Uffizi Gallery , with an overview of the must see masterpieces and tips for visiting.

7. Portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici : Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Painted by Vasari at just age of 22, this is a portrait of the famous Lorenzo de’ Medici. It was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici in homage to Lorenzo, dubbed Il Magnific o.

Lorenzo was the most famous ruler in the Medici dynasty. He was the most important patron of Renaissance art, sponsoring works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Donatello.

In Vasari’s portrait, Lorenzo is wearing a blue tunic with ermine cuffs. He’s surrounded by objects glorifying his reign. Hanging on his belt is a red purse, which was a symbol of his role as a banker to the pope.

Vasari was not a portraitist and disliked the specialty. But he strove for a likeness of Lorenzo. Lorenzo is shown pensive, humble in rather subdued colors. He looks moody and unshaven, purposes purposefully drawn this way to show him as a man of the people.

8. Six Tuscan Poets: Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Commissioned in 1543, this Vasari group portrait was intended to laud the supremacy of Italian culture. It shows six famous poets and philosophers from 13th and 14th century Tuscany engaged in conversation. The colors are gorgeous.

Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy , is seated facing Guido Cavalcanti, a poet famed for his love sonnets. Dante holds a copy of Virgil , one of the great Latin poets, to remind the audience that everyone in the painting was a master of the Latin language.

To Dante’s right is the humanist scholar, Francesco Petrarch. He holds a copy of his Scattered Rhymes . Between them is Giovanni Boccaccio, author of the Decameron . To the far left are the humanist, Marsilio Ficino and the philosopher, Cristoforo Landino.

The four great poets of the Italian language wear laurel wreaths as a symbol of honor. The table is strewn with objects that are symbols of learning: a solar quadrant, celestial globe, compass, terrestrial globe, and books.

9. Giorgio Vasari, St Luke Painting the Virgin : Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence

This Vasari painting is based on an Italian legend. Vasari depicts St. Luke painting the Virgin and Child . By legend, a painting of the virgin is attributed to Saint Luke, who was believed to be the first Christian painter. The actual painting is located in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome .

The medieval painting is nicknamed the Savior of the People of Rome . Legend holds that it was carried by Pope Gregory throughout Rome to drive out the plague in 593.

Vasari’s rendition of the theme is a classic of Mannerist painting. I don’t usually like Mannerism (with the exception of some beautiful Bronzinos and El Grecos). But I really like this painting, which depicts a most improbable and incongruous scene.

First off, of course, Saint Luke wasn’t alive at the same time of the virgin. And we don’t know what Luke looked like.

So Vasari painted a self portrait of himself as Saint Luke. Luke is supposedly show in Jesus’ childhood home, which seems to resemble Vasari’s house in Arezzo.

Luke wears a costume reminiscent of a Roman patrician and sits on a classically adorned stone stool. Luke is identified by the giant ox with peacock wings (signifying imortality) next to him. Luke wear eyeglasses as he prepares to paint the background scene.

10. Allegory of the Immaculate Conception : Santissimi Apostoli, Florence

This famous Vasari painting is the main altarpiece of the Altoviti Chapel in the Church of the Santissimi Apostoli in Florence. In his Memoirs , Vasari describes the altarpiece in detail, revealing its complex iconography. Vasari claimed that he never so “lovingly” labored over a painting.

The work depicts Mary as the New Eve, who remedies the evil unleashed by the first Eve. Mary appears quite Raphael-like and is enthroned on celestial clouds.

By her grace, the Gates of Heaven are re-opened and the Old Testament saints were released from Limbo. Held up by angels, Mary almost descends into limbo herself. She defeats the female serpent wrapped around a tree by herself.

The image of an independent Mary wasn’t popular in the Counter Reformation. Henceforth, they required Jesus to be included in any image where something significant was happening.

Vasari’s work was such a success that many copies and replicas were made, including by himself. The Uffizi has a small Vasari replica of the Allegory .

11. House of Giorgio Vasari, Arezzo

Art lovers should visit the House of Giorgio Vasari on a Tuscany road trip . Vasari bought the house in 1541 and gleefully decorate, making it his most personal art work.

He painted frescos in six rooms between 1542-48. The frescos depict biblical scenes, mythological scenes, and sacred and profane allegories.

The most important room is the Room of Virtue, which Vasari frescoed as he wrote The Lives . It depicts episodes from the lives of the most famous painters of antiquity. The “Room of the Celebrities” show Vasari’s portraits of his contemporaries, including portraits of Michelangelo and Andrea del Sarto.

Vasari’s House also has the original transcript of The Lives . You’ll also find some of Vasari’s mannerist style paintings and his correspondence with Michelangelo and Cosimo I de Medici .

Here’s my complete guide to Casa Vasari .

12. Palazzo dei Cavalieri, Pisa

Vasari also worked on the beautiful Palazzo dei Cavalieri in Pisa. Formerly known as the Palazzo della Carovana, Vasari gave the palace an architectural in 1562.

The palace served as the palace of the Knights of St. Stephen. It’s now part of Pisa’s University, founded by Napoleon.

The stunning Vasari-designed facade is exquisitely frescoed with a pattern called “sgraffiti.” The upper facade has niches with half busts of the Medici dukes. Outside sits a statue of Cosimo I de Medici, just to remind you that Florence conquered Pisa.

READ : Guide To the Top Attractions in Pisa

13. Frescos in the Palazzo della Cancellari, Rome

Built between 1485 and 1511, the Palazzo della Cancelleria was one of the most influential architectural projects of the 15th century. It combines elements of Renaissance architecture from Florence, Urbino, and Rome. Despite its historical significance, its architect is unknown.

In 1546, Vasari was commissioned to fresco the grand salon. The frescoes were commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to celebrate the life of his grandfather Pope Paul III.

The frescos feature scenes from the life of the pope. The frescos are notable for their fictive architecture and complex iconography.

Vasari finished the frescos in 100 days. The salon was thereafter dubbed the “Hall of the Hundred Days.” Legend holds that Vasari bragged about the quick execution to his hero Michelangelo. Michelangleo tartly said “ si vede” (“it shows”).

14. Michelangelo’s Tomb, Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence

Michelangelo was buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce , a Florentine church full of celebrity tombs. His fanboy, Giorgio Vasari designed the tomb.

Legend holds that Michelangelo chose the site for the tomb, so that on Judgment Day the first thing he would see was Brunelleschi’s dome on Florence Cathedral.

Vasari’s tomb for Michelangelo, while well meaning, is static and not quite fitting for one of the greatest artists of all time. It’s an allegory of sculpture, architecture, and painting — three things at which Michelangelo excelled.

Frescos are at the top. There’s a bust of Michelangelo, and below that 3 crying women representing his artistic disciplines.

Michelangelo lived his life between Florence and Rome due to his commissions, most famously completing the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican . He spent his last 30 years in Rome.

When he died, his heir spirited his body out of Rome and transported it to Florence so Michelangelo could be put to rest in the city he loved most.

15. The Last Supper : Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence

Vasari painted his own The Last Supper in 1546. The beloved Vasari painting of Christ and his disciples was shockingly contemporary for its time, a tableaux of realism. The painting was commissioned by the Benedictine nuns of the Florentine Murate Convent.

The work is massive at 8 by 21 feet. It’s composed of five panels and a total of 20 thick poplar planks.

Christ is in pale rose robes. He drapes his left arm over Saint John. A bearded Saint Peter sits on his right. Judas turns away as darkness gathers in the room.

The painting was eventually relocated to the Castellani Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Croce in 1865. In the 1950s, it was moved to the Santa Croce museum.

The painting was severely damaged in 1966 when the Arno River flooded — a tragedy in Italian history. Vasari’s Last Supper was underwater for 12 hours. It was covered in conservation paper. For years, restorers were loath to touch the painting, considering it unsalvageable.

In 2010, funded by the Getty Center, a new team of conservators got in the act. After 9 years of restoration using cutting edge technology, the painting was triumphantly unveiled to the public. The damage was less than experts feared. If Santa Croce floods again, two winches will automatically lift the painting above the flood line.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to the works of Giorgio Vasari. You may enjoy these other Florence travel guides and resources:

• 1 day itinerary for Florence
• 3 day itinerary for Florence
• Best museums in Florence
• Hidden gems in Florence
• Must see sites in Florence
• Florence art bucket list
• Best day trips from Florence
• Guide to the Medici Palaces
• Guide to the Uffizi Gallery
• How To Visit the Duomo

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Last Updated on April 4, 2023 by Leslie Livingston

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Following in the Footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci

Many of the artist’s works have traveled from around the world to a major show at the Louvre. But many more remain in Italy, in cities and small towns alike.

By Elisabetta Povoledo

VINCI, Italy — In his biography of Leonardo da Vinci, written 30 years after the artist’s death in 1519, Giorgio Vasari said Leonardo had “such a power of intellect that whatever he turned his mind to, he made himself master of with ease.”

In this 500th anniversary year of the artist’s death, the Musée du Louvre in Paris has undeniably stolen the limelight with its blockbuster exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci.” Yet, that intellectual dexterity — manifest in Leonardo’s paintings and drawings, as well as his scientific studies, and his engineering and architectural models — has spawned celebratory exhibitions in several Italian cities where Leonardo’s legacy remains a source of pride.

That pride was somewhat bruised when the Louvre — which has the world’s biggest collection of Leonardo paintings — took center stage in the centenary celebrations. But after some jousting between Italy and France, the presidents of the two countries met and made up at a ceremony in Amboise , France, where Leonardo died.

Nowhere is that pride more heartfelt than in Vinci, a small Tuscan town 17 miles west of Florence, where Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, the son of Ser Piero da Vinci, a prosperous notary, and a local peasant girl named Caterina.

Leonardo’s ghost lingers throughout the walled town (Mona Lisa cookies, anyone?), where contemporary artists have reinterpreted his vision. A 3-D sculptural replica of Leonardo’s drawing of Vitruvian Man dominates the main piazza in the historic center. In another, there is a bronze horse inspired by a never-completed model he created for the Sforza dynasty in Milan, while other artists have reconfigured local spaces inspired by his designs.

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• The Complete Works

The Virgin and Child with St Anne c. 1510

The Battle of Anghiari (detail) 1503-05

Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) c. 1503-05

The Last Supper (2) 1498

Annunciation (Annunciazione)

Leonardo da vinci biography in details, early life, 1452–1466.

Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, "at the third hour of the night" in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci, in the lower valley of the Arno River in the territory of Florence. He was the illegitimate son of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a peasant who may have been a slave from the Middle East. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, son of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci."

Little is known about Leonardo's early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano, then lived in the household of his father, grandparents and uncle, Francesco, in the small town of Vinci. His father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera, who loved Leonardo but died young. In later life, Leonardo only recorded two childhood incidents. One, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face. The second occurred while exploring in the mountains. He discovered a cave and was both terrified that some great monster might lurk there, and driven by curiosity to find out what was inside.

Leonardo's early life has been the subject of historical conjecture. Vasari, the 16th century biographer of Renaissance painters tells of how a local peasant requested that Ser Piero ask his talented son to paint a picture on a round plaque. Leonardo responded with a painting of snakes spitting fire which was so terrifying that Ser Piero sold it to a Florentine art dealer, who sold it to the Duke of Milan. Meanwhile, having made a profit, Ser Piero bought a plaque decorated with a heart pierced by an arrow, which he gave to the peasant.

Verrocchio's workshop, 1466–1476

In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the most successful artists of his day, Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio. Verrocchio's workshop was at the centre of the intellectual currents of Florence, assuring the young Leonardo of an education in the humanities. Other famous painters apprenticed or associated with the workshop include Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Credi. Leonardo would have been exposed to a vast range of technical skills and had the opportunity to learn drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry as well as the artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting and modeling.

Much of the painted production of Verrocchio's workshop was done by his employees. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his Baptism of Christ , painting the young angel holding Jesus’ robe in a manner that was so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again. This is probably an exaggeration. On close examination, the painting reveals much that has been painted or touched up over the tempera using the new technique of oil paint, the landscape, the rocks that can be seen through the brown mountain stream and much of the figure of Jesus bearing witness to the hand of Leonardo.

Leonardo himself may have been the model for two works by Verrocchio, including the bronze statue of David in the Bargello and the Archangel Michael in Tobias and the Angel.

By 1472, at the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine, but even after his father set him up in his own workshop, his attachment to Verrocchio was such that he continued to collaborate with him. Leonardo's earliest known dated work is a drawing in pen and ink of the Arno valley, drawn on 5 August 1473.

Professional life, 1476–1513

Court records of 1476 show that Leonardo and three other young men were charged with sodomy, and acquitted. From that date until 1478 there is no record of his work or even of his whereabouts, although it is assumed that Leonardo had his own workshop in Florence between 1476 and 1481. He was commissioned to paint an altarpiece in 1478 for the Chapel of St Bernard and The Adoration of the Magi in 1481 for the Monks of San Donato a Scopeto.

In 1482 Leonardo helped secure peace between Lorenzo de' Medici and Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan. Leonardo wrote a letter to Ludovico, describing his engineering and painting skill. He created a silver lyre in the shape of a horse's head, with which he was sent to Milan.

Leonardo continued work in Milan between 1482 and 1499. He was commissioned to paint the Virgin of the Rocks for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, and The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. While living in Milan between 1493 and 1495 Leonardo listed a woman called Caterina among his dependents in his taxation documents. When she died in 1495, her list of funeral expenditure suggests that she was his mother.

His work for Ludovico included floats and pageants for special occasions, designs for a dome for Milan Cathedral and a model for a huge equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, Ludovico's predecessor. Leonardo modelled a huge horse in clay, which became known as the "Gran Cavallo", and surpassed in size the two large equestrian statues of the Renaissance. Seventy tons of bronze were set aside for casting it. The monument remained unfinished for several years, which was not unusual for Leonardo. In 1492 the model was completed, and Leonardo was making detailed plans for its casting. Michelangelo rudely implied that Leonardo was unable to cast it. In November 1494 Ludovico gave the bronze to be used for cannons to defend the city from invasion by Charles VIII.

At the start of the Second Italian War in 1499, the invading French troops used the life-size clay model for the "Gran Cavallo" for target practice. With Ludovico Sforza overthrown, Leonardo, with his assistant Salai and friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli, fled Milan for Venice, where he was employed as a military architect and engineer, devising methods to defend the city from naval attack.

On his return to Florence in 1500, he and his household were guests of the Servite monks at the monastery of Santissima Annunziata and were provided with a workshop where, according to Vasari, Leonardo created the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist , a work that won such admiration that "men and women, young and old" flocked to see it "as if they were attending a great festival". In 1502 Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, acting as a military architect and engineer and travelling throughout Italy with his patron. He returned to Florence where he rejoined the Guild of St Luke on 18 October 1503, and spent two years designing and painting a great mural of The Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, with Michelangelo designing its companion piece, The Battle of Cascina. In Florence in 1504, he was part of a committee formed to relocate, against the artist's will, Michelangelo's statue of David.

In 1506 he returned to Milan. Many of Leonardo's most prominent pupils or followers in painting either knew or worked with him in Milan, including Bernardino Luini, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco D'Oggione. However, he did not stay in Milan for long because his father had died in 1504, and in 1507 he was back in Florence trying to sort out problems with his brothers over his father's estate. By 1508 he was back in Milan, living in his own house in Porta Orientale in the parish of Santa Babila.

From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere in the Vatican in Rome, where Raphael and Michelangelo were both active at the time. In October 1515, François I of France recaptured Milan. On 19th December, Leonardo was present at the meeting of Francois I and Pope Leo X, which took place in Bologna. It was for Francois that Leonardo was commissioned to make a mechanical lion which could walk forward, then open its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies. In 1516, he entered François' service, being given the use of the manor house Clos Lucé near the king's residence at the royal Chateau Amboise. It was here that he spent the last three years of his life, accompanied by his friend and apprentice, Count Francesco Melzi, supported by a pension totalling 10,000 scudi.

Leonardo died at Clos Lucé, France, on May 2, 1519. François I had become a close friend. Vasari records that the King held Leonardo's head in his arms as he died, although this story, beloved by the French and portrayed in romantic paintings by Ingres, Ménageot and other French artists, may be legend rather than fact. Vasari also tells us that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the Holy Sacrament. In accordance to his will, sixty beggars followed his casket. He was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in the castle of Amboise. Melzi was the principal heir and executor, receiving as well as money, Leonardo's paintings, tools, library and personal effects. Leonardo also remembered his other long-time pupil and companion, Salai and his servant Battista di Vilussis, who each received half of Leonardo's vineyards, his brothers who received land, and his serving woman who received a black cloak of good stuff with a fur edge.

Some twenty years after Leonardo's death, François was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor Benevenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher." (From wikipedia)

Leonardo Da Vinci

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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Giorgio Vasari

From scandalous gossip to sumptuous paintings, Giorgio Vasari helped shape the Italian Renaissance. This article unpacks everything you need to know about the father of art history.

Born in the Republic of Florence in 1511, Giorgio Vasari was in prime position to watch the Renaissance unfurl over the course of the sixteenth century. He was not happy, however, to be a passive spectator. He involved himself in all manner of artistic developments and built a wide circle of influential friends around him. Discover more about the father of art history over the following 10 facts.

10. As Well As Being A Writer, He Was Also A Painter Himself

Like an increasing number of elite young men, Giorgio Vasari was brought up in the world of art, having trained under the painter Guglielmo da Marsiglia in his hometown of Arezzo and then with Andrea del Sarto in Florence.

Having witnessed the work of some great High Renaissance artists first hand, Vasari took a different approach in his own paintings. He was part of the Mannerist movement that reacted against the harmony and clarity prized by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael , replacing these features with a more exaggerated, obscure and complex style. Like his artistic forebears, however, Vasari still incorporated a rich use of color, tricks of perspective that give his paintings depth, and profound subject matter, often religious.

Vasari’s Mannerist paintings won him great renown during his lifetime, and earnt him some important commissions. These included the chancery of the Palazzo della Cancellaria in Rome, and the interior fresco of the cupola on Florence Cathedral.

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Please check your inbox to activate your subscription, 9. he was not only a homme de lettres, but also put his artistic and technical skills into practice as an architect.

Like many of the sixteenth century elite, Vasari was something of a polymath. He constructed the loggia of Florence’s Palazzo degli Uffizi, where crowds now queue for hours for admission into the world-renowned Uffizi Gallery. The loggia, which embraces the Arno at its south end, is practically unique as a cross between an architectural structure and a street.

He performed the vast majority of his architectural work on churches across Tuscany, remodeling two of Florence’s churches in the Mannerist style, and constructing an unusual octagonal dome for a Basilica in Pistoia. He adorned the Santa Croce with a painting commissioned by the Pope, and provided the epic fresco for the inside of Florence Cathedral’s magnificent cupola.

8. He Was Directly Employed By The Most Important Renaissance Family

Vasari’s talents attracted the attention of some influential patrons, namely the Medici family. On the commission of Cosimo I, he painted the vault frescoes of the eponymous Vasari Sacristy in Naples, as well as the wall and ceiling paintings in his patron’s own rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

Working for Italy’s most powerful family provided Vasari with the connections, funds and experience he needed to expand his influence among Europe’s elite circles.

7. Vasari Was One Of Italy’s Most Well-Connected Artists

In the artists’ studios of Florence, Vasari had mingled with a number of other aspiring artists as a young man. Most notable among these was Michelangelo , who would prove a lifelong inspiration and friend. Their correspondences still exist, with each man heaping praise on the other, and Michelangelo even composing a poem to celebrate Vasari’s talent.

As Vasari became a more prominent artist, his network of connections grew, and he eventually counted Giorgione , Titian and many other Renaissance artists among his acquaintances.

6. As Well As Peers, He Acquired A Strong Following Of Younger Artists

Vasari may have been inspired by the likes of Michelangelo, but many great younger artists found their inspiration in him. These young men were mainly based in Arezzo, where Vasari had his first studio.

Among them were the famous fresco painter, Carducho, who later emigrated from Italy to Spain to work for Philip II. As was typical for the time, Vasari enlisted the help of these apprentices for some of his major projects, such as the cupola of Florence Cathedral, which was actually completed by his assistant Federico Zuccari.

5. These Acquaintances Equipped Him With Everything He Needed To Compose His  Magnum Opus

In 1550, Vasari published a collection of biographies, compiled under the title  Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori  ( The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects ). This encyclopedic work was dedicated to Cosimo I and consisted of hundreds of accounts documenting the lives of Europe’s most famous artists. It is infamous   for the scandalous gossip and amusing anecdotes Vasari reveals. From the sexual misdemeanors of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, nicknamed ‘Il Soddoma’, to the many irrational fears and vexations of Piero di Cosimo, the author refuses to spare even the most intimate details.

Although Vasari worked on  The Lives  rigorously, there are numberless errors, inaccuracies and biases. Unsurprisingly, he gives most of the credit for Renaissance developments to the Florentines, deliberately excluding the craftsman of Venice from his first edition. However, in the second, enlarged edition (1568) he does include Titian.

A particularly famous stories appears in Titian’s biography: Vasari had arranged a meeting between Titian and Michelangelo. After exchanging compliments to one another, the two Florentines left and swiftly began to complain about how poor the Venetian’s drawing actually were.  

4. As Well As Providing An Amusing Source Of Scandalous Gossip,  The Lives Of The Artists  Marked An Important Moment In Art History

In compiling  The Lives , Vasari became responsible for the first modern work of art history. In fact, he paved the way for all future art historians by showing that the theory and analysis of art could be just as valuable as its creation.

It is in the pages of  The Lives  that the word ‘Renaissance’, or ‘Rinascita’, is first printed, an important moment in the history of art. Vasari was also the first author to use the term ‘Gothic’ in relation to art, as well as introducing the concept of economic ‘competition’ into the field of painting.  

3. His Talents Made Vasari Richer Than Many Of His Famous Friends

The Medici patronage and popularity of  The Lives  meant that Vasari amassed a vast fortune during his life. He occupied a wonderfully grand house in  Arezzo  that he had built and decorated himself, and married the daughter of one of the town’s richest families.

Vasari’s prestige also continued to grow as he became older: the Pope made him a Knight of the Golden Spur and he later founded an artistic academy in Florence alongside Michelangelo. His material wealth and social influence proved that Vasari had truly reached the pinnacle of Italy’s elite.

2. His Legacy Has Remained Just As Impressive

The Lives  has rarely been out of print since it was first published, remaining an invaluable tool for art historians and amateur enthusiasts alike. So popular has it proved that rare or early editions of the work regularly sell for huge sums of money. In 2014, for instance, an example of the important 1568 edition sold at Sotheby’s for £20,000.

Vasari’s legacy has also permeated into popular culture, with his famous fresco of  The Battle of Marciano  appearing as a clue in Dan Brown’s famous book,  Inferno . The characters investigate the mysterious ‘cerca trova’ (‘seek and find’) message painted on a distant banner, and also scrutinize the works hung in the Vasari Corridor in the Palazzo Vecchio.

1. Vasari Himself Was An Avid Art Collector

As well as being a ‘collector of lives’, Vasari also gathered a huge collection of art through his relationships with the Renaissance’s most prominent craftsmen.

As part of his role in the Medici’s employ, Vasari was responsible for curating and displaying the family’s vast archive of paintings and sculptors, essentially transforming the Medici court into a museum or gallery. His aim was to immortalize the memory of Italy’s greatest artists.

At the age of 17, Vasari received a gift of drawings from the grandson of Lorenzo Ghiberti, a gesture which inspired him with a life-long appreciation of drawings, which were often overlooked in favor of completed paintings. He eagerly collected sketches over the following decades, which led to their acceptance as valuable pieces of art. Naturally, Vasari also received countless paintings from his admirers and students, growing a collection that cemented his position as one of art history’s most important figures.

Leonardo da Vinci: Bio, Works, and Trivia

By Mia Forbes BA in Classics Mia is a contributing writer from London, with a passion for literature and history. She holds a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge. Both at work and at home, Mia is surrounded by books, and enjoys writing about great works of fiction and poetry. Her first translation is due to be published next year.

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