The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art

The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art
Author: Noah Charney
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2017-10-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393248399

“Readers curious about the making of Renaissance art, its cast of characters and political intrigue, will find much to relish in these pages.” —Wall Street Journal Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) was a man of many talents—a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, and scholar—but he is best known for Lives of the Artists, which singlehandedly established the canon of Italian Renaissance art. Before Vasari’s extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It was through Vasari’s visionary writings that Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came to be regarded as great masters of life as well as art, their creative genius celebrated as a divine gift. Lauded by Sarah Bakewell as “insightful, gripping, and thoroughly enjoyable,” The Collector of Lives reveals how one Renaissance scholar completely redefined how we look at art.

The Collector of Lives

The Collector of Lives
Author: Noah Charney
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-11-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393356361

“Readers curious about the making of Renaissance art, its cast of characters and political intrigue, will find much to relish in these pages.” —Wall Street Journal Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) was a man of many talents—a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, and scholar—but he is best known for Lives of the Artists, which singlehandedly established the canon of Italian Renaissance art. Before Vasari’s extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It was through Vasari’s visionary writings that Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came to be regarded as great masters of life as well as art, their creative genius celebrated as a divine gift. Lauded by Sarah Bakewell as “insightful, gripping, and thoroughly enjoyable,” The Collector of Lives reveals how one Renaissance scholar completely redefined how we look at art.

Lives of the Artists

Lives of the Artists
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2003-07-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0141919973

Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto in the thirteenth century, Vasari traces the development of Italian art across three centuries to the golden epoch of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Great men, and their immortal works, are brought vividly to life, as Vasari depicts the young Giotto scratching his first drawings on stone; Donatello gazing at Brunelleschi's crucifix; and Michelangelo's painstaking work on the Sistine Chapel, harassed by the impatient Pope Julius II. The Lives also convey much about Vasari himself and his outstanding abilities as a critic inspired by his passion for art.

The Lives of the Artists

The Lives of the Artists
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2008-08-14
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0199537194

Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto in the 13th century, Vasari traces the development of Italian art across three centuries to the golden epoch of Leonardo and Michelangelo.

The Ashgate Research Companion to Giorgio Vasari

The Ashgate Research Companion to Giorgio Vasari
Author: David J. Cast
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2016-04-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1317043294

The Ashgate Research Companion to Giorgio Vasari brings together the world's foremost experts on Vasari as well as up-and-coming scholars to provide, at the 500th anniversary of his birth, a comprehensive assessment of the current state of scholarship on this important-and still controversial-artist and writer. The contributors examine the life and work of Vasari as an artist, architect, courtier, academician, and as a biographer of artists. They also explore his legacy, including an analysis of the reception of his work over the last five centuries. Among the topics specifically addressed here are an assessment of the current controversy as to how much of Vasari's 'Lives' was actually written by Vasari; and explorations of Vasari's relationships with, as well as reports about, contemporaries, including Cellini, Michelangelo and Giotto, among less familiar names. The geographic scope takes in not only Florence, the city traditionally privileged in Italian Renaissance art history, but also less commonly studied geographical venues such as Siena and Venice.

The Lives of the Artists (Volume II of III)

The Lives of the Artists (Volume II of III)
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Publisher: Digireads.com
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781420950892

Giorgio Vasari's biographical collection "The Lives of the Artists" is one of the most frequently cited art history books since the 16th century. It is also the first comprehensive book on art history ever created. In the work, Vasari brings together facts, knowledge, and sometimes gossip about almost 200 Renaissance artists. Most of the biographies are focused on Florentines and Romans, though Vasari also wrote about other European artists. "The Lives of Artists" not only discusses the importance of the artists, but it also serves as a book of art criticism. Vasari looked at the artists' paintings in minute detail, describing the positive and negative aspects of the artistry as well as the quality of the work. "The Lives of the Artists" has not escaped criticism, though. Many scholars and historians realize that Vasari's information was not always completely accurate; with the lesser-known artists, he flubs dates and other minor information. Vasari also sometimes invented some information and gossip about the artists. However, many have argued that the false information, or gossip, is truthful in spirit, even if the actual events did not happen. Regardless, "The Lives of Artists" is still one of the best art criticism and art history books in the genre, and it provides a valuable look at how the leading artists of the Renaissance helped to shape and redefine the art of their time. Contained here is the second of three volumes.

A Childhood Memory by Piero della Francesca

A Childhood Memory by Piero della Francesca
Author: Hubert Damisch
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2007
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780804734424

Piero della Francesca's Madonna del Parto, a celebrated fifteenth-century Tuscan fresco in which the Virgin gestures to her partially open dress and her pregnant womb, is highly unusual in its iconography. Hubert Damisch undertakes an anthropological and historical analysis of an artwork he constructs as a childhood dream of one of humanity's oldest preoccupations, the mysteries of our origins, of our conception and birth. At once parodying and paying homage to Freud's seminal essay on Leonardo da Vinci, Damisch uses Piero's enigmatic painting to narrate our archaic memories. He shows that we must return to Freud because work in psychoanalysis and art has not solved the problem of what is being analyzed: in the triangle of author, work, and audience, where is the psychoanalytic component located?

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 1759
Release: 2023-12-01
Genre: Art
ISBN:

Giorgio Vasari's 'Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects' is a pivotal work in the history of art criticism and biography. Written in a fluid and engaging style, Vasari provides detailed accounts of the lives and works of renowned artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The book not only serves as a valuable historical document, but also as a source of inspiration for aspiring artists and art enthusiasts alike. Vasari's emphasis on the personal lives and artistic achievements of these masters sheds light on the Renaissance art world and its cultural significance. His vivid descriptions and insightful commentary make this a must-read for anyone interested in art history.

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance
Author: Marina Belozerskaya
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2005-10-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0892367857

Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.