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 also went to Parma in 1541 to study the works of Correggio and then visited Giulio Romano before becoming the friend of Aretino in Venice. The following year he was in Rome loding in the house of Bindo Altovito, a rich banker and painted a «Descent from the Cross» and a series of frescoes for cardinal Farnese who gave him the idea of writing the history of painting.
The book was completed in less than eight years and revised by Annibale Caro, for whom Vasari painted a work titled «Venus and Adonis», before being published in 1550. 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.
Vasari was an indefatigable creator who was sometime prone to easiness and his works remained somewhat academic. It is however tempting to believe that his main passion went above all to his book for which he spent much time and money. The first edition of his monumental work was published in 1550 followed by a second in 1568 and this book soon became a kind of bible for many art historians throughout the following centuries.
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