Background

Giorgio Vasari was born on July 30, 1511 in Arezzo, Republic of Florence (present-day Arezzo, Italy). He was a son of Antonio Vasari, a potter, and Maddelena Tacci.

Education

In his early years, Vasari studied under the guidance of the painter Guglielmo da Marsiglia. At the age of sixteen, Giorgio left for Florence, where he became a pupil of Andrea del Sarto. At that time, Giorgio also befriended Michelangelo, whose painting style would influence his own. Some time later, in 1529, Vasari visited Rome, where he studied the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance.

Career

Vasari had an extremely active career, but much of his time was spent as an impresario, devising decorations for courtly festivals and similar ephemera. In 1547, he finished the hall of the chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome with frescoes "Sala dei Cento Giorni". In 1555, together with his assistants, Giorgio worked on ceiling paintings in the Sala di Cosimo I in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

Giorgio was also a successful architect. His best-known buildings are the Uffizi in Florence, begun in 1560 for Cosimo I de’ Medici, and the church, monastery and palace, created for the Cavalieri di San Stefano in Pisa. These designs show the influence of Michelangelo and are outstanding examples of the Tuscan Mannerist style of architecture. In 1562, Vasari built the octagonal dome on the Basilica of Our Lady of Humility in Pistoia, an important example of high Renaissance architecture. The following year, in 1563, he helped to establish the Academy of the Arts and Drawing in Florence. In 1567, Giorgio completed his painting, entitled "The Adoration of the Magi", commissioned by Pope Pius V in 1566.

Giorgio Vasari was also involved in chronicling the lives, works and techniques of the great artists of the era and published his book "Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects" in 1550. It was the first work of this kind and it was Vasari, who first used the term "Renaissance" in that book. Some time later, he complemented the book with the information about the other writers' lives and the book came to be known as "Lives".

In his later years, Vasari was elected to the municipal council of his native town and finally rose to the supreme office of gonfaloniere.

Achievements

• Giorgio Vasari was known as a prolific painter, architect and writer. Vasari enjoyed high repute during his lifetime and amassed a considerable fortune. He was mostly known for his writing, entitled "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects". In 1563, he helped to found the Academy of the Arts and Drawing in Florence. Also, he was the first to use the term "Renaissance" in print.
  
  Today, the his works are kept in the collections of different museums and institutions, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, the Prado Museum in Madrid and others.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Everyman's Library)

    (This book is a series of artists' biographies.)

    1550

• painting

  • Chapel with the Lord in glory

  • The Incredulity of St. Thomas

  • The Temptation of St. Jerome

  • The Annunciation

  • Portrait of Nicolosa Bacci and the a noblewoman from Arezzo

  • Eleonora of Toledo, daughters of the viceroy of Naples Pedro of Toledo, wife to Cosimo I de Medici, Duke of Florence and Siena

  • Pope Clement VII (1478-1534) marrying Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) and Henri II of France (1519-59) 28th October 1533, from the 'Sala di Clemente VII'

  • Holy Family with St. Francis in a Landscape

  • Fresco of the 1530 Siege of Florence

  • Madonna

  • Patience

  • Deposition from the Cross

  • Defence of Ponte Rozzo on the river Ticino in 1524

  • The Last Judgment

  • Ceiling decoration Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

  • Ceiling decoration Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

  • Cosimo I de Medici surrounded by his Architects, Engineers and Sculptors

  • Abraham and the Three Angels

  • St. Jerome in meditation

  • The house of Giorgio Vasari in Arezzo

  • St. Francis receiving the Stigmata

  • Peter of Verona exorcising a demon personified by a Madonna and Child

  • Allegory of the Immaculate Conception

  • Vulcan's Forge

  • Musicians

  • Entombment

  • Martyrdom of St. Stephen

  • Italian Humanists (Six Tuscan Poets)

  • Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo, graffiti

  • Judith and Holofernes

  • Stoning of St. Stephen

  • Clement VII returns from France to Rome

  • Catherine of Siena escorted pope Gregory XI at Rome on 17th January 1377

  • Monument to Michelangelo

  • Clemenet VII and Francis I of France

  • Pentecost

  • Lorenzo the Magnificent

  • The Garden of Gethsemane

  • St. Luke Painting the Virgin

  • The Nativity With The Adoration Of The Shepherds

  • The Nativity

  • Vasari altar

  • Portrait of Alessandro de' Medici

  • The Annunciation

  • Portrait of a gentleman of Florence

  • The Prophet Elisha cleansing Naaman

  • Chapel of the Crucifix, the Cross of Baccio da Montelupo

  • The Mutiliation of Uranus by Saturn

  • The Studio of the Painter

  • The Annunciation

  • Clement VII crowns Charles V

  • Jesus Christ in the House of Martha and Mary

  • Perseus and Andromeda

  • Design for the facade of Palazzo Ramirez de Montalvo

  • Dinner of St. Gregory the Great (Clement VII)

  • Paul III Farnese Directing the Continuance of St Peter's

  • Pope Leo X Appointing Cardinals

  • The Deposition

  • Allegory of Geography

  • Deposition from the Cross

  • Lorenzo de Medici 'The Magnificent'

  • Martyrdom of St. Sigismund

  • Badia Fiorentina church

  • Coronation of the Virgin

  • Immaculate Conception (center), St. Eustachian (left) and St. Blaise (rigth)

  • Marriage at Cana

  • Giuda

Views

Quotations: "Art owes its origin to Nature herself. This beautiful creation, the world, supplied the first model, while the original teacher was that divine intelligence which has not only made us superior to the other animals, but like God Himself, if I may venture to say it."

"Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work the least, for they are thinking out inventions and forming in their minds the perfect idea that they subsequently express with their hands."

"These rough sketches, which are born in an instant in the heat of inspiration, express the idea of their author in a few strokes, while on the other hand too much effort and diligence sometimes sap the vitality and powers of those, who never know, when to leave off."

Personality

Vasari was a man of upright character, free from vanity.

Connections

Giorgio Vasari married Nicolosa Bacci in 1549.

Father:

Antonio Vasari

Mother:

Maddelena Tacci

Wife:

Nicolosa Bacci

patron:

Alessandro de' Medici

patron:

Ippolito de' Medici

mentor:

Andrea del Sarto

Friend:

Michelangelo

References

• The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art
  2017
• Vasari on Technique (Dover Art Instruction)
  2011
• Giorgio Vasari: Art and History
  1995