Anyone who has even a meager appreciation for the creative enormity that was the Italian High Renaissance owes a debt of gratitude to Giorgio Vasari (1511 – 1574). Much like the Romano-Jewish Josephus, whose contemporary writings of the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire of the 1st century corroborate and enhance much of the writings that emerged from within the early Church, Vasari was both an artist and contemporary of many of the Italian artists he describes in his three volume work. He is largely responsible for our knowledge of the early training, temperaments, artistic approach, technique and lingering legends of the great painters and sculptors of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Much has been written about how and why so much artistic talent erupted virtually at the same time in one small area of the world. I think it is almost as fascinating to consider that there was a contemporary individual who a), recognized that his was an extraordinary time, b) researched and documented what he witnessed for posterity (historians were nothing new in the Renaissance, but remember Vasari was writing about the present and very recent past), c) was an artist himself, and as such was in an amazing position to assess the talent around him, and d) a collector of the works of his fellow artists, suggesting a certain humility and objectivity in this era of epic egos. Could any better person have been chosen to record the lives and works of creative giants like Michelangelo, Titian, Donatello, Botticelli, Giotto, Raphael, Brunelleschi and Leonardo da Vinci?
Vasari published the initial printing of the Lives in 1550 (dedicated to Cosimo de’ Medici), and it was an instant best seller, spurring a second edition in 1568. Needless to say, it has gone through countless editions since, but I prefer George Bull’s 1993 translation published by the The Folio Society, in part because the artists lives are presented in chronological order, and the reproductions of the paintings are of very high quality.
Even a cursory look at the contents of the three volumes indicates that Vasari revered some artists more than others, if quantity of words and effusive praise count for much. Michelangelo, the great painter, sculptor and architect, receives Vasari’s highest respect with 120 pages (by the Folio Society edition), and it would take a tough critic to contradict his assessment. By why, by comparison, would Sandro Botticelli warrant a mere 8 pages, and the prolific genius Leonardo da Vinci barely 20 pages? Certainly Michelangelo’s bombastic character and tempestuous relationship with Pope Julius II made for good writing, and Vasari’s own life overlapped most closely with Michelangelo’s, but one can’t help but wonder how closely our idea of who were the “rock stars” of the Renaissance match the ideas of those who lived among them. In the end I’m nit-picking, of course, because without this invaluable work our understanding of the motivations and passions of the iconic artists of the 16th century would be lacking indeed. Vasari is a very good and interesting writer, and I would recommend his Lives of the Artists for any student of the shining creative lights of the High Italian Renaissance.
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