VASARI, Vil-Zit'IC?, GIORGIO (1511-74). An Italian painter and architect. chiefly celebrated as a biographer of artists. He was born at Arezzo, and on the advice of his kinsman, Luca relli, he first studied painting under Guglielmo di Marsiglia. Pollastra, the poet, taught him Latin, and the ability to recite whole books of the _Eucid won for him the patronage of the Cardinal of Cortona, who, in 1523, took him to Florence. There he was a pupil of Michelangelo and .Andrea del Sarto and studied the humanities with the two Shedicean princes, whose guardian the Cardinal was. During the exile of the Medici fortunes suffered, but he went in the train of Cardinal Ippolito to Rome, and studied for ninny months with such assiduity that be was brought back to Arezzo on a litter. Upon his recoNery Duke Alessandro Medici of Florence made him his Court painter. In this capacity Vasari painted family portraits, frescoed the Medici Palace, and designed the decorations of Florence upon the visit of Charles V. After his assassination he spent three years paint ing for the monks of Camaldoli, visited Northern Italy and Venice, and resided at Rome (1582), and in other parts of Italy. In 1555 he was sum named to Florence by Duke Cosimo the Great, in whose service he remained until his death. From the Duke he received a large pension and many gifts and honors, incInding the appoint ment to the office of gonfalioniere (chief magis trate) of Arezzo for life. Ile transformed the in terior of the grand Palazzo Vecchio into ments suitable for a duke's residence, and fres coed the Great Hall which the had in tended for and Leonardo. Ile also designed a number of buildings for the Duke, in cluding the Uffizi in Florence. Later he served alternately Pope Julius Ill. and the Duke. In 1573 he finished the decorations of the Sala. Begia in the Vatican, but his intended master piece, the frescoes of the cupola of Florence, was unfinished at his death, .lune 27. 1574. He pos sessed a lovable and upright character, and was as diligent as lie was lacking in genius.
Vasari was one of the most versatile artists of the later Renaissance. Modern taste, indeed,
does not agree with contemporary opinion of his painting, but finds it mannered and without originality. He succeeded far better in archi tecture. His masterpiece, the Uffizi, is a fine, harmonious building, admirably adapted for its various purposes. Other chief works are the Vigna di Papa Giulio near Rome. the Church of the Badia, and his own house (now Casa Mon tauti at Arezzo), the cupola of Madonna dell' umilta at Pistoja, and the new sacristy of San Lorenzo at Florence.
But greatest service by far to art is his world-renowned Lives, to which we owe our chief knowledge of the artists of the Italian Renaissance. This monumental work was under taken at the suggestion of Cardinal Farnese (afterwards Pope Julius III.) in 1542: the first edition appeared under the title l'itc phi cellenti pittori, scultori cd architetti. A second edition, enlarged and improved, appeared in 1568. The work is excellent in style, full of local color, and really remarkable in the acuteness and catholicity of its artistic perception. There has been great progress in art history and criticism since day. The archives have yielded up their treasures, and the attribution of paint ings is no longer determined by tradition or gen eral impressions of style or feeling. Modern criticism finds him far too dependent on hearsay and gossip, inexact in facts and dates, and even guilty of wholesale plagiarism without acknowl edgment. But when all has been said, work remains, for its day, a wonderful monument of erudition and sound criticism, and not without justice has he been termed the father of modern art history and criticism. Monumental modern editions of the Vitr, with complete notes, and biographies of the author, are those of Le Mon (15 vols., Florence, 1846) ; Milanesi (9 vole., Venturi (Rome, 1896 et seq.) : and (selections) Carl Frey (Berlin, 1885-87). There is an English translation by Mrs. Foster (Lon don, 1850), and an admirable edition of selected biographies in this translation is by Blashfield and (4 vols., New York. 1896),