Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' () is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the ...

'', considered the ideological foundation of Western art-historical writing, and still much cited in modern biographies of the many

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

artists he covers, including

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, although he is now regarded as including many factual errors, especially when covering artists from before he was born. Vasari was a

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

painter who was highly regarded both as a painter and architect in his day but rather less so in later centuries. He was effectively what would now be called the

minister of culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

to the Medici court in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, and the ''Lives'' promoted, with enduring success, the idea of Florentine superiority in the

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

. Vasari designed the ''Tomb of Michelangelo'', his hero, in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, that was completed in 1578. Based on Vasari's text in print about

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...

's new manner of painting as a ''rinascita'' (rebirth), author

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...

, in his ''Histoire de France'' (1835), suggested the adoption of Vasari's concept, using the term ''

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

'' (from French) to distinguish the cultural change. The term was adopted thereafter in historiography and is still in use today.

Life

Vasari was born prematurely on 30 July 1511 in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

.Gaunt, W. (ed.) (1962) ''Everyman's dictionary of pictorial art. Volume II.'' London: Dent, p. 328. Recommended at an early age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a skillful painter of

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. Sent to

at the age of sixteen by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, he joined the circle of Andrea del Sarto and his pupils, Rosso Fiorentino and Jacopo Pontormo, where his humanist education was encouraged. He was befriended by

, whose painting style would influence his own. Vasari enjoyed high repute during his lifetime and amassed a considerable fortune. He married Niccolosa Bacci, a member of one of the richest and most prominent families of Arezzo. He was made Knight of the Golden Spur by the Pope. He was elected to the municipal council of his native town and finally, rose to the supreme office of gonfaloniere. Vasari built a fine house in Arezzo in 1547 and decorated its walls and vaults with paintings. It is now a museum in his honour named the Casa Vasari, whilst his residence in Florence is also preserved. In 1563, he helped found the Florentine ''Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno'', with Grand Duke

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

and

as ''capi'' of the institution. Thirty-six artists were chosen as members. He died on 27 June 1574 in

Grand Duchy of Tuscany The Grand Duchy of Tuscany (; ) was an Italian monarchy located in Central Italy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1860, replacing the Republic of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence. In the 19th century the population ...

, aged 62.

Painting

Giorgio Vasari - Six Tuscan Poets - Google Art Project

In 1529, he visited

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

where he studied the works of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

and other artists of the Roman

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

. Vasari's own

paintings were more admired in his lifetime than afterwards. In 1547, he completed the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes that received the name Sala dei Cento Giorni. He was regularly employed by members of the Medici family in

and Rome. He also worked in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

(for example on the Vasari Sacristy), Arezzo, and other places. Many of his paintings still exist, the most important being on the wall and ceiling of the Sala di Cosimo I in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, where he and his assistants worked from 1555. Vasari also helped to organize the decoration of the Studiolo, now reassembled in the Palazzo Vecchio. Giorgio Vasari - The Garden of Gethsemane - Google Art Project

Giorgio Vasari - The Garden of Gethsemane - Google Art Project

In Rome, Vasari painted frescos in the ''Sala Regia''. Among his better-known pupils or followers are Sebastiano Flori, Bartolomeo Carducci, Mirabello Cavalori (Salincorno), Stefano Veltroni (of Monte San Savino), and Alessandro Fortori (of Arezzo). His last major commission was a vast '' The Last Judgement'' fresco on the ceiling of the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

of the

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...

that he began in 1572 with the assistance of the Bolognese painter Lorenzo Sabatini. Unfinished at the time of Vasari's death, it was completed by Federico Zuccari.

Architecture

Aside from his career as a painter, Vasari was successful as an architect. His loggia of the Palazzo degli

Uffizi The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...

by the Arno opens up the vista at the far end of its long narrow courtyard. It is a unique piece of urban planning that functions as a public piazza, and which, if considered as a short street, is unique as a Renaissance street with a unified architectural treatment. The view of the Loggia from the Arno reveals that the Vasari Corridor is one of the very few structures lining the river that is open to the river and appears to embrace the riverside environment. In Florence, Vasari also designed the long passage, now called Vasari Corridor, which connects the Uffizi with the Palazzo Pitti on the other side of the river. The corridor passes alongside the River Arno on an arcade, crosses the

Ponte Vecchio The Ponte Vecchio (; "Old Bridge") is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, it is noted for the shops built along it; ...

, and winds around the exterior of several buildings. It was once the location of the Mercado de Vecchio. He renovated the medieval churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce. In both buildings, he removed the original

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

and loft, and remodeled the retro-

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

s in the Mannerist taste of his time. In Santa Croce, Vasari produced the painting of ''The Adoration of the Magi'' commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566 and completed in February 1567. It was restored recently, before being exhibited in 2011 in Rome and Naples. Eventually, it will be returned to the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo (

Province of Alessandria The province of Alessandria (; ; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian Provinces of Italy, province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The prov ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

). In 1562, Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

, an important example of

architecture. In Rome, Vasari worked with Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and Bartolomeo Ammannati at Pope Julius III's Villa Giulia.

''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects''

Often called "the first art historian", Vasari invented the genre of the encyclopedia of artistic biographies with his ''Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori'' (''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects''). This work was first published in 1550 and dedicated to Grand Duke

. Vasari introduced the term "Rinascita" (rebirth in Italian) in printed works – although an awareness of an ongoing "rebirth" in the arts had been in the air since the time of Alberti. Vasari's term, applied to the change in artistic styles with the work of Giotto, eventually would become the French term ''Renaissance'' (rebirth) widely applied to the era that followed. Vasari was responsible for the modern use of the term

Gothic art Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern Europe, Norther ...

, as well, although he only used the word ''Goth'' in association with the German style that preceded the rebirth, which he identified as "barbaric". The ''Lives'' also included a novel treatise on the technical methods employed in the arts. The book was partly rewritten and extended in 1568, with the addition of woodcut portraits of artists (some conjectural). Vite

The work shows a consistent and notorious bias in favour of Florentines and tends to attribute to them all the developments in Renaissance art – for example, the invention of

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

. Venetian art in particular (along with arts from other parts of Europe), is ignored systematically in the first edition. Between his first and second editions, Vasari visited Venice and while the second edition gave more attention to Venetian art (finally including

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

), it did so without achieving a neutral point of view. Many inaccuracies exist within his ''Lives''. For example, Vasari writes that

Andrea del Castagno Andrea del Castagno () or Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla (; – 19 August 1457) was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance painter in Florence, influenced chiefly by Masaccio and Giotto, Giotto di Bondone. His works include fresc ...

killed Domenico Veneziano, which is incorrect; Andrea died several years before Domenico. In another example, Vasari's biography of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, whom he calls "

Il Sodoma Il Sodoma (1477 – 14 February 1549) was the name given to the Italy, Italian Renaissance Painting, painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the tr ...

", published only in the second edition of the ''Lives'' (1568) after Bazzi's death, condemns the artist as being immoral, bestial, and vain. Vasari dismisses Bazzi's work as lazy and offensive, despite the artist's having been named a Cavalier of the Supreme Order of Christ by Pope Leo X and having received important commissions for the Villa Farnese and other sites. Vasari's biographies are interspersed with amusing gossip. Many of his anecdotes seem plausible, while others are assumed fictions, such as the tale of young

painting a fly on the surface of a painting by

Cimabue Giovanni Cimabue ( , ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian p ...

that supposedly, the older master repeatedly tried to brush away (a genre tale that echoes anecdotes told of the Greek painter

Apelles Apelles of Kos (; ; fl. 4th century BC) was a renowned Painting, painter of ancient Greece. Pliny the Elder, to whom much of modern scholars' knowledge of this artist is owed (''Natural History (Pliny), Naturalis Historia'' 35.36.79–97 and '' ...

). He did carry out research archives for exact dates, as modern art historians do, and his biographies are considered more reliable in the case of his contemporary painters and those of the preceding generation. Modern criticism – with new materials produced by research – has revised many of his dates and facts. Vasari included a short autobiography at the end of the ''Lives'', and added further details about himself and his family in his lives of Lazzaro Vasari and Francesco Salviati. According to the historian Richard Goldthwaite,Richard Goldthwaite, ''The Economy of Renaissance Florence'', 2009, pg. 390. Vasari was one of the earliest authors to use the term "competition" (or "concorrenza" in Italian) in its economic sense. He used it repeatedly, and stressed the concept in his introduction to the life of Pietro Perugino, in explaining the reasons for Florentine artistic preeminence. In Vasari's view, Florentine artists excelled because they were hungry, and they were hungry because their fierce competition amongst themselves for commissions kept them so. Competition, he said, is "one of the nourishments that maintain them".

Gallery

File:Alessandro de Medici Ruestung.jpg, ''Alessandro de Medici resting'' File:Douai chartreuse vasari pieta.jpg, ''Pieta'' File:GIORGIO VASARI, JOANNES STRADANUS THE BIRD CATCHERS.jpg, ''Bird catchers'' File:Vasari, Giorgiodel Sarto, Andrea - Holy Family - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Holy Family'', with Andrea del Sarto File:Giorgio vasari, ultima cena, da ss. annunziata a figline, 1567-69, 04.JPG, ''Last Supper'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Entombment - WGA24277.jpg, ''Entombment'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Temptations of St Jerome - WGA24282.jpg, ''Temptations of St. Jerome'' File:Giorgio Vasari - St Luke Painting the Virgin - WGA24311.jpg, ''St. Luke painting the Virgin'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Annunciation - WGA24286.jpg, ''Annunciation'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Justice - WGA24280.jpg, ''Justice'' File:Giorgio Vasari - The Prophet Elisha - WGA24289.jpg, ''The Prophet Elisha'' File:Dome of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence).jpg, Interior of the dome of

File:Giorgio Vasari - Cosimo studies the taking of Siena - Google Art Project.jpg, Cosimo studies the taking of Siena. File:Giorgio Vasari - Apotheosis of Cosimo I - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Apotheosis of
Cosimo I'' File:Giorgio Vasari - Defeat of the Venetians in Casentino - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Defeat of the Venetians in Casentino'' Libro de' Disegni by Giorgio Vasari"> File:Page from "Libro de' Disegni"- 2.jpg, Giorgio Vasari with drawings by Filippino Lippi,

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

, and Raffaellino del Garbo File:Page from "Libro de' Disegni"- 1.jpg, Giorgio Vasari with drawings by Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, and Raffaellino del Garbo File:Florenz Uffizien.jpg,

colonnade and loggia File:Loge de Vasali a Arezzo.JPG, Loggia of Vasari in

File:005San-Pietro-in-Montorio-Rome.jpg,

San Pietro in Montorio San Pietro in Montorio (English: "Saint Peter on the Golden Mountain") is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the ''Tempietto'', a small commemorative ''martyrium'' ('martyry') built by Donato Bramante. History The Church o ...

, Rome File:Basílica de la Santa Cruz, Florencia, Italia, 2022-09-18, DD 110.jpg, Tomb of Michelangelo File:Sala dei cento giorni - Giorgio Vasari - 1547 - Palazzo della Cancelleria 1.jpg, Sala dei Cento Giorni - Giorgio Vasari - 1547 - Palazzo della Cancelleria File:Villa Giulia - Court - Vasari - Vignola.jpg, Villa Giulia - Court - Vasari - Vignola File:Loggia del pesce nel MercatoVecchio, Firenze avanti 1885.jpg, Part of the Loggia del Mercato Vecchio, Florence, just prior to its demolition in the 1880s

Notes

References and sources

References Sources *''The Lives of the Artists''. Oxford University Press, 1998. *''Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Volumes I and II''. Everyman's Library, 1996. *''Vasari on Technique''. Dover Publications, 1980. *''Life of Michelangelo''. Alba House, 2003. *

External links

* * * * *
Biography of Vasari and analysis for four major works
*
Giorgio Vasari
– The First Art-Historian Copies of Vasari's ''Lives of the Artists'' online:

Site created by Adrienne DeAngelis. Now largely completed in the posting of the ''Lives'', intended to be re-translated to become the unabridged English version.

1550 Unabridged, original Italian.
''Stories Of The Italian Artists From Vasari''
translated by E L Seeley, 1908. Abridged, in English.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20031008214109/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/giorgio.vasari/vaspref.htm Excerpts from the ''Vite'' combined with photos of works mentioned by Vasari. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasari, Giorgio Italian Mannerist painters Italian Mannerist architects 1511 births 1574 deaths Artist authors Italian biographers Italian art historians Italian art critics Italian Roman Catholics Italian male biographers Painters from Tuscany People from Arezzo Art technological sources Uffizi 16th-century Italian architects 16th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 16th-century Italian writers 16th-century Italian male writers Biographers of artists Architects of Roman Catholic churches Catholic painters 16th-century biographers 16th-century Italian historians