Giorgio Vasari And His Influence On Art History
The author of the first comprehensive history of Western art
For those readers who have studied art history before, the name Giorgio Vasari will likely be very familiar. For those who haven’t, I expect you’ve probably never heard of him.
Giorgio Vasari was an artist and architect who lived and worked in 16th century Florence. He was remarkably productive during his lifetime (1511–1574), commissioned to decorate palace halls and plan some of the most notable buildings and piazzas in Tuscany. The Uffizi Palace in Florence, for instance, was in large-part designed by Vasari.
Successful as he was as an artist and architect, Vasari is principally remembered today as one of the very earliest historians of art.
In the study of art, he stands not only an as important resource on Italian painters and sculptors — he was personally acquainted with the likes of Michelangelo — he was also a pioneer of the field, someone who had an immense influence on how later generations viewed the course of Western art. Much of that influence is celebrated. Some of it is questioned.
Lives of the Artists
The central body of work related to Vasari is a series of biographies of Italian painters and sculptors…
