( Three quotes on painting )

One of the things I found most interesting in Vasari was his descriptions of the advances in materials and techniques used for art -- you could almost call it the "engineering" or "technology" of art.

( The War of Paint vs. Time and Nature )

One more marvel. This one's so cool it deserves its own entry.

( Some ASCII art )

Vasari is full of stories about paintings so realistic that birds try to land on the depicted tree or outstretched falconer's hand (Vol. II, pp. 29 - 30), and murals that dogs try to attack and end up fatally smashing their heads against (Vol. II, p. 46), among others. He doesn't seem to realize that these urban legends are all just retellings of ( Read more... )

Baccio Bandinelli is a Renaissance artist you don't really hear much about. The only time I'd ever heard of him before Vasari was from a tourbook of Florence, which gave a possibly apocryphal story claiming that his contemporary Michelangelo had once looked at one of his sculptures and said, "Why did you have to ruin such excellent marble ( Read more... )

Vasari gives plenty of anecdotes on the behavior of noble patrons, and some pointers for dealing with them.

( Eight quotes, mostly about the Medici )

Vasari's feelings on Albrecht Dürer are interestingly vexed. On the one hand, he thinks the Italian neo-classical manner is the one and only proper way to make art, and that the Germano-Flemish manner is too bizarre and stylized. On the other hand, he has to admit that Dürer was a really, really good artist.

( Special guest appearance by The Decemberists )

In a book of 2000 pages, probably no more than 100 (if even that many) are devoted to women artists. However, as I think the eight quotes below show, this was most likely due to the fact that there simply weren't as many women artists in that era, rather than because Vasari omitted them, consciously or otherwise. If anything, I think he shows ( Read more... )

Some odd tidbits that don't fit into any of the previous or upcoming categories.

( Seven quotes )

Eleven more tales of madmen, scatterbrains, weirdos, show-offs, and simpletons, including an anecdote (#7) to make men glad that hosiery above mid-calf is no longer a part of Western male fashion.

( Read more... )