Giorgio Vasari, the eldest of six children, was born in 1511 into a middle-class family living in the Arezzo region of Tuscany. 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. ... Giorgio Vasari was a famous Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who was born on July 30, 1511.As a person born on this date, Giorgio Vasari is listed in our database as the 66th most popular celebrity for the day (July 30). Vasari had an extremely active career, but much of his time was spent as an impresario devising decorations for courtly festivals and similar ephemera. Giorgio Vasari's Lives . He venerated Michelangelo to the point of idolatry. ©2021 The Art Story Foundation. View Giorgio Vasari’s artworks on artnet. He venerated Michelangelo to the point of idolatry. 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. 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. Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto, who represent the infancy of art, Vasari considers the period of youthful vigour, shaped by Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Masaccio, before discussing the mature period of perfection, dominated by the titanic figures of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Vasari had previously had an affair with Nicolosa's sister Maddalena, with two children resulting from this premarital union. Giorgio Vasari was an internationally acclaimed artist and art historian. He was buried in a chapel he had designed for himself in the church of Santa Maria in Arezzo. Though something of an unwelcome responsibility at the time, the experience helped him appreciate the financial security that artistic status could bring. Vasari had been especially close to his great uncle, Luca Signorelli, himself a sitter for della Francesco's teachings and his perspective drawing. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian artist, architect, and writer best known for his comprehensive book of biographies Lives of the Artists (1550). 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. Scholar Leon Satkowski presents a biographical picture of Vasari as something of a narcissist. He fulsomely praised the Medici family for forwarding his career from childhood, and much of his work was done for Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was also an architect. He supervised the building of Pope Julius III's Villa Giulia near Rome, but his masterpiece is the reconstruction of the Uffizi picture gallery in Florence (from 1560), originally the offices of the grandducal administration. 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. Vasari is most recognized for his descriptions and biographies of Renaissance artists. 1447-1455), also wrote the earliest autobiography by a modern artist. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) Although famous for his painting and architecture, Giorgio Vasari is today best-known for his volume of biographies of Italian artists - Le Vita delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects) or "the Vite " for short) - published in 1550. His book is the foundation of modern art historiography and the prototype for all biographies of artists. 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. He was on the one hand "loyal, hard-working, and totally committed to the political aspirations of his patrons." 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. 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 … Vasari painted a portrait of an ideal artist who was financial savvy and successful, by right, and who conducted himself of herself morally. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1570) was an Italian painter, architect, and author of "The Lives of the Most Celebrated Painters, Sculptors, and Architects." Giorgio Vasari's birthday and biography. 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. VASARI, Giorgio (b. 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. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian artist, architect and art historian and one of the most influential artists in 16th century Italy. Giorgio's artistic leanings were passed down to him through the generations of family members. Although their patrons often still considered them merely particularly skillful servants, many artists of the Renaissance began to develop a higher opinion of themselves. But he being called by Pope Clement VII to Rome, determined that Vasari should go to Andrea del Sarto, and went himself … 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. Giorgio Vasari was born on July 30, 1511, in Arezzo. Giorgio Vasari Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. 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. The Lives was thus envisioned as an ideological foundation for a Florentine art school. During the late 15th and early 16th centuries similar treatises were projected and written, and Vasari knew and used some of these earlier works. 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 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. classical times, Pliny the Elder and Vitruvius having produced two celebrated examples. [Giorgio Vasari Biography - ( 1511 - 74 ), Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and … Giorgio Vasari was born on July 30, 1511, in Arezzo. Content compiled and written by Zaid Sethi, Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Anthony Todd. 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. He gives more space to non-Florentine artists and even mentions one or two non-Italians. What distinguishes the first edition of his Lives is the fact that it is far fuller (and better written) than any of its predecessors or potential rivals. All Rights Reserved. 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. Giorgio Vasari (1511-1570) was an Italian painter, architect, and author of "The Lives of the Most Celebrated Painters, Sculptors, and Architects." Although Vasari's biographical and anecdotal accuracy can sometimes be questioned, the Lives is one of the most valuable sources for the period covered and for the outlook on art which it embodies. He could also show a level of impatience that "bordered on paranoia." "Giorgio di Antonio Vasari Artist Overview and Analysis". 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. He apparently suffered at the hands of Andrea's wife, to judge from the waspish references to her in his life of Andrea. Collection Santi Donato e Ilariano, Camaldoli / Right: Giorgio Vasari - Self-Portrait, 1550-67. Vasari's grandfather, after whom Giorgio was named, was less of an all-rou… 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. The versions by Vasari and Condivi give us, therefore, a unique contemporary picture of the life and works of the greatest Italian artist of the age. 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. The Lives was, however, biased towards Tuscan and particularly Florentine artists and artists whose works fit Vasari's ideal. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian artist of the Renaissance movement who also studied methods and techniques of early Mannerism. He maintained books (now lost) entitled Libri dei Disegni (Books of Drawings) in which he organized and displayed drawings by artists he admired. In the latter years of Michelangelo's life Vasari came to know him quite well, and for this reason the two versions of his biography of Michelangelo are of the greatest importance as a contemporary assessment. It … Through Vasari, artists transcended their status as mere craftsmen, and instead "became thinkers as well as makers." 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.". Giorgio Vasari Biography Giorgio Vasari (Arezzo, Tuscany July 3, 1511 - Florence, June 27, 1574) was an Italian painter and architect, mainly known for his famous biographies of Italian artists. At a very early age he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a very skilful painter of stained glass, to whom he was recommended by his own kinsman, the painter Luca Signorelli. Home » Collection » Vasari, Giorgio. Galleria degli … From Pope Pius V, Vasari received the honor of becoming a Knight of Saint Peter in 1571. 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. He was the first to use the term "Renaissance" (rinascita) in print – though an awareness of the ongoing "rebirth" in the arts had been in the air since the time of Alberti– and was responsible for the mo… Learn about the artist and find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks, the latest news, and sold auction prices. However, according to Satkowski, Vasari "lacked conventional training in architecture and came to it relatively late in his distinguished career." 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. Vasari's buildings are characterized by their diversity in type, meanings, and style. At this time, in the year 1525, Giorgio Vasari was brought as a boy to Florence by the Cardinal of Cortona and put with Michelangelo to learn the art. 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. 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