Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)

### Best Known For

his work “The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects,” which is a biographical account of Italian Renaissance artists

## About

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) was an Italian artist, architect, and writer who is best known for his important biographies of Italian Renaissance artists. He was born in Arezzo, Tuscany, and received his early artistic training from the painter and stained-glass maker Guillaume de Marcillat. He subsequently moved to Florence, where he worked under the painter Andrea Del Sarto. Vasari enjoyed the friendship and patronage of the Medici family and became a lifelong admirer of Michelangelo. As an artist, Vasari was both a painter and an architect. His best-known buildings are the Uffizi in Florence, begun in 1560, and the extensive renovation and fresco decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence between 1555 and 1572. Vasari was also an art collector and historian. He wrote The Lives of the Most Celebrated Painters, Sculptors and Architects, which is considered a foundational book of art history and has acted as the prototype for all biographies of artists. 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), first published in 1550 and dedicated to Cosimo I de' Medici. Vasari's artworks achieved high acclaim in his time, and his Lives remains perhaps the most popular early work in the history of art. He died on June 27, 1574, in Florence, and was buried in a chapel he designed in Arezzo. Vasari was more than his writings. He was an artist himself, and his own biography is also recorded in ‘Le Vite’.

## Early Life and Education

Giorgio Vasari was born on July 30, 1511, in Arezzo, Tuscany. According to his own account, he was apprenticed as a boy to Andrea del Sarto in Florence. He was recommended at an early age by his cousin Luca Signorelli, and he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a skilful painter of stained-glass. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to Florence by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, where he joined the circle of Andrea del Sarto and his pupils.

## Controversies

There are controversies surrounding Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) as an art historian. Some critics argue that his biographical accounts of Italian Renaissance artists in "The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects" are not always accurate and are biased towards Florentine artists. Others have criticized Vasari for his role in the destruction of the frescoes in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, which he replaced with his own paintings. Despite these controversies, Vasari remains an important figure in the history of art and his work continues to be studied and analyzed by scholars and art historians.

## Filmography

there are films based on the works of Giorgio Vasari. One such film is “Memoirs of Giorgio Vasari: A Tuscan Artist,” which aims to explain the works and thought of the great architect, painter, and writer. Another film is “Le memorie di Giorgio Vasari,” which premiered at the Bari International Film Festival in April 2018.