Great Masters

Giorgio Vasari, born in 1511, was above all remembered for his famous and extraordinary book on the lives of the great masters, which proved to be a gold mine for many art historians.

Vasari had some family links with Luca Signorelli whom he met when he was a child. It was Signorelli who encouraged him to study painting, which he did with Guglielmo da Marietta.

Around 1523 Vasari came under the protection of cardinal Pesserine who sent him to Florence where he worked with Michelangelo. Then he went to Arezzo and to Rome where he studied with Francesco Salviati.

When the Medicis came back to power in Florence, Vasari returned to that city and studied architecture and decided after the murder of Duke Alexander of Medicis to devote his time to art instead of leading the life of a courtesan.

Vasari got married three years later and produced a series of works for Pope Julius III in the villa Guilla before serving the Duke of Florence. After his appointment, he worked as an architect and decorator and transformed the Duke's palace adding many frescoes on its walls.

Firenze - Ponte Vecchio

Vasari was in charge of the construction of the Uffizzi in Florence and transformed many churches there. Well treated by his patron he was given a house and some important function before obtaining to go to Rome in 1567 to examine new plans with Pope Pius V for St Peter's church. In the meantime, Vasari built a new chapel in Arezzo which he decorated with frescoes. In 1570 he worked in the Vatican to decorate the Sala Regia but met some difficulties due to nagging Papal demands while the Duke of Florence was impatiently waiting for his return in order to start work in Santa Maria del Flore. Vasari died in Florence in June 1574 before the dome of that building was achieved.