The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
About the book
Written by the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, these biographies of Italian Renaissance artists cover the thirteenth century up to his own day and figures such as Giotto, Leonardo, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Mantegna, Titian and Raphael. The work appeared in two editions, the second enlarged to three volumes with woodcut portraits and more attention to Venetian art. Vasari mixes critical judgment with gossip and anecdote, such as young Giotto painting a fly that Cimabue kept trying to brush away, and he is often faulted for favoring his native Florence. Considered by some the first important book of art history, the Lives has been translated into many languages, including English, French and Russian.
Ryan Holiday includes it on his Books to Base Your Life On list, valuing its focus on artists rather than statesmen or generals and its lessons on craft and psychology.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
A friend and peer of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael Titian and all the other great minds of the Renaissance sat down in 1550 and wrote biographical sketches of the people he knew or had influenced him. What I like about this book is that the profiles are not about statesmen or generals but artists. There are so many great lessons about craft and psychology within this book. The best part? It was written by someone who actually knew what he was talking about, not some art snob or critic, but an actual artist and architect of equal stature to the people he was documenting.
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