James Baquet

    The Italian painter Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) wasn’t a particularly great artist. Sure, he was a friend of Michelangelo, and an informal student of Andrea del Sarto and Raphael. But few today can name any of his works, which were more popular during his life than after his death.

    His most famous works today are paintings in architecture settings, such as inside the Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) and the Duomo (dome) of the Cathedral in Florence. He also did architectural work, including the remodeling of churches in Florence and other Italian cities.

    But the work that has earned him lasting fame is not a work of art at all, but a work of art history. His “Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects,” first published in 1550, is the first work to bring together biographies of several great artists in a single encyclopedic work. This trailblazing effort contains the first known use of the word “Renaissance” in print. He also used the word “Goth” to describe Germanic (not Italianate) style, leading to our term “Gothic art” and, presumably, the use of the same term to describe a fashion trend.

    Although the book seems to overstress the importance of Florentine art in the progress of the Renaissance, and it ignores others such as the art of Venice, it nevertheless is more inclusive than any known work before it. As a member of the artistic community himself, Vasari was able to include anecdotes and outright gossip about the artists profiled. Unlike modern historians, he was not so concerned about exact dates, and the descriptions of artists near his time are more accurate than those of the more distant past.

    One interesting story is that the artist Giotto, as a young student, added a fly to one of his master’s paintings. It was so realistic that the master kept trying to brush it off.

    He also delved into the business side of art, discussing the ways in which the fierce competition in the market in Florence pushed the individual artists to excel at their work. He himself was quite successful, dying a wealthy man at age 62.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. short, interesting stories, often humorous

    2. dug (into), explored

    3. of Florence

    4. pioneering, groundbreaking

    5. improving the appearance of a building

    6. comprehensive, including many things

    7. give too much emphasis to

    8. make progress, go further

    9. idle stories repeated about someone