Lives of the Artists Vol. 1

by Vasari, Giorgio (Author); Bull, George (Translator); Bull, George (Introduction by)

• ISBN13: 9780140445008
• ISBN10: 0140445005
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1966-01-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 74) was an accomplished painter and architect, but it is for his illuminating biographies that he is best remembered. Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto in the thirteenth century, he traces the development of Italian art across three centuries to the golden epoch of Leonardo da Vinci 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. George Bull's introduction discusses Vasari's life and influences, and the political and historical background of sixteenth - century Florence. This volume also includes notes on the artists by Peter Murray and a list for further reading.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
Vasari's Lives	9	(9)
Vasari and the Renaissance Artist	18	(3)
Translator's Note	21	(4)
THE LIVES	25	(438)
Preface to the Lives	25	(58)
Cimabue	49	(8)
Giotto	57	(26)
Preface to Part Two	83	(166)
Uccello	95	(10)
Ghiberti	105	(19)
Masaccio	124	(9)
Brunelleschi	133	(41)
Donatello	174	(17)
Piero della Francesca	191	(8)
Fra Angelico	199	(9)
Alberti	208	(6)
Fra Filippo Lippi	214	(10)
Botticelli	224	(8)
Verrocchio	232	(9)
Mantegna	241	(8)
Preface to Part Three	249	(214)
Leonardo da Vinci	255	(17)
Giorgione	272	(6)
Correggio	278	(6)
Raphael	284	(41)
Michelangelo	325	(118)
Titian	443	(20)
NOTES ON THE ARTISTS	463	(15)
FURTHER READING	478