VASARI, GIORGIO (1511-1574), Italian painter and architect, whose main distinction, however, rests on his valuable history of Italian art, was born at Arezzo on July 3o, 1511. At a very early age he became a pupil of Guglielmo da Marcilla, a very skilful painter of stained glass. At the age of thirteen he went to Florence, where he studied under Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto and Baccio Bandinelli aided by the patronage of the Medici princes. In 1531 he visited Rome in the suite of Cardinal Ippolito de Medici and studied the works of Raphael and others of his school. The paintings of Vasari were much admired. Vasari's principal works are at Florence, Rome, Naples, Arezzo, Bologna, Bosco (near Alexandria), Lucca, Monte Sansovino, Pisa, Perugia, Pistoja. Many of his pictures still exist, the most important being the wall and ceiling paintings in the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and his frescoes on the cupola of the cathedral. He died at Florence on June 27, and was buried in the chapel of S. Giorgio in the Pieve of Arezzo.
Personally Vasari was a man of upright character, always ready to appreciate the works of others : in spite of the very different taste of his time, he expresses a warm admiration of the works of Giotto, which is very remarkable. As an art historian of his country he must always occupy the highest rank. His great work Delle Vite de' put eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori, was first published in 155o, and afterwards partly rewritten and en larged in 1568. It was dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, and was
printed at Florence by the Giunti ; it is a small quarto illustrated with many woodcut portraits. This editio prince ps of the com plete work is usually bound in three volumes, and also contains a very valuable treatise on the technical methods employed in all branches of the arts, entitled Le Tre Arti del disegno, cioe archi tettura, pittura, e scoltura. His biographies are written in a very pleasant style, interspersed with amusing stories. With a few exceptions Vasari's judgment is acute and unbiased. The work in any case remains a classic, however it may be supplemented by the more critical research of modern days.
Vasari gives his own biography at the end of his Vite, and adds further details about himself and his family in his lives of Lazzaro Vasari and Francesco Salviati. The first edition of his Vite was issued by the Torrentino Press (155o). The best edition is that published at Florence by Milanesi (1878-1882), which embodies the valuable notes in the earlier edition by Le Monnier (1846). The Lives has been translated into French, German and English.
See Sir D. Colnaghi, Dict. of Florentine Artists (1928) ; on his literary works see W. Kallab, Vasaristudien (Vienna, 1908) ; and J. Schlosser, Die Kunstliteratur (Vienna, 1924) , which also contains an account of his life.