Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

VASARI, GIORGIO (1511-1571)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 926 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

VASARI, GIORGIO (1511-1571) , See also:Italian painter and architect, whose See also:main distinction, however, rests on his valuable See also:history of Italian See also:art, was See also:born at See also:Arezzo on the 3oth of See also:July 1511. At a very See also:early See also:age he became a See also:pupil of Guglielmo da Marsiglia, a very skilful painter of stained See also:glass, to whom he was recommended by his own kinsman, the painter Luca See also:Signorelli. At the age of sixteen he went to See also:Florence, where he studied under See also:Michelangelo and See also:Andrea del Sarto, aided by the patronage of the See also:Medici princes. In 1529 he visited See also:Rome and studied the See also:works of See also:Raphael and others of his school. The paintings of Vasari were much admired by the rapidly degenerating See also:taste of the 16th See also:century; but they possess the smallest amount of merit, being in the main feeble parodies of the powerful works of Michelangelo. Vasari was largely employed in Florence, Rome, See also:Naples, Arezzo and other places. Many of his pictures still exist, the most important being the See also:wall and See also:ceiling paintings in the See also:great See also:hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and his frescoes on the See also:cupola of the See also:cathedral, which, however, were not completed at the See also:time of his See also:death. As an architect he was perhaps more successful: the loggia of the Uffizi by the See also:Arno, and the See also:long passage connecting it with the Pitti See also:Palace, are his See also:chief works. Unhappily he did much to injure the See also:fine See also:medieval churches of S. Maria Novella and See also:Santa Croce, from both of which he removed the See also:original See also:rood-See also:screen and See also:loft, and remodelled the retro-See also:choir in the degraded taste of his time. Vasari enjoyed a very high repute during his lifetime and amassed a considerable See also:fortune. He built himself in 1547 a fine See also:house in Arezzo, and spent much labour in decorating its walls and vaults with paintings.

He was elected one of the municipal See also:

council or priori of his native See also:town, and finally See also:rose to the supreme See also:office of gonfaloniere. He died at Florence on the 27th of See also:June 1571. Personally Vasari was a See also:man of upright See also:character, See also:free from vanity, and always ready to appreciate the works of others: in spite of the narrow and meretricious taste of his time, he expresses a warm admiration of the works of such men as See also:Cimabue and See also:Giotto, which is very remarkable. As an art historian of his See also:country he must always occupy the highest See also:rank. His great See also:work was first published in 1550, and after-wards partly rewritten and enlarged in 1568, bearing the See also:title belie Vile de' See also:pin eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori. It was dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, and was printed at Florence by the Giunti; it is a small See also:quarto illustrated with many See also:good woodcut portraits. This editio princeps of the See also:complete work is usually See also:bound in three volumes, and also contains a very valuable See also:treatise on the technical methods employed in all branches of the arts, entitled Le Tre Arti del discgaao, cioe architeltura, pittura, e scoltura. His See also:biographies are written in a very pleasant See also:style, interspersed with amusing stories. With a few exceptions Vasari's See also:judgment is acute and unbiased. And though See also:modern See also:criticism—with all the new materials opened up by See also:research—has done valuable work in upsetting a good many of his traditional accounts and attributions, the result is a tendency very often to under-estimate Vasari's accuracy and to multiply hypotheses of a rather speculative character. The work .in any See also:case remains a classic, however it may be supplemented by the more See also:critical research of modern days. Vasari gives a See also:sketch of his own See also:biography at the end of his 'Vite, and adds further details about himself and his See also:family in his lives of Lazzaro Vasari and See also:Francesco Salviati.

The best edition of Vasari's works is that published at Florence by See also:

Milanesi (1878-1882), which embodies the valuable notes in the earlier edition by Le See also:Monnier (1846) ; another, by Venturi, was begun in 1896. ' The Lives has been translated into See also:French, See also:German and See also:English (by Mrs See also:Foster, See also:London, 185o).

End of Article: VASARI, GIORGIO (1511-1571)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
VASA, or NIKOLAISTAD 		[next]
VASCULAR SYSTEM

Site © 2006 - Net Industries