There are a lot of great stories of ne'er-do-wells, wiseguys, and weirdos in Vasari -- far too many for one entry. But here are nine to get us started...

( One of these is a forerunner to "The Silence of the Lambs"... )

From everything I've heard and read, the Italians have always been big into nicknames, which I've always found fascinating, because for most of my life I've lived among people who don't use nicknames at all. (The only "community" where I and others have nicknames is my immediate family circle, which doesn't really count, because we don't use those ( Read more... )

Despite the title of his book, Vasari didn't write about excellent artists only; what he really wrote about was artists that he knew of, and some of them, by his own pronouncement, were mediocre or worse; and even the great ones occasionally had their lapses ( Read more... )

I'm sure I'm not the only software engineer who can relate to this quote from Vasari concerning architecture. Engineering is engineering.Vol. II, p. 109, Antonio da San Gallo: Wherefore Antonio ... refounded all the building [the Church of the Madonna of Loreto], and, making the walls and pilasters thicker both within and without, he gave it a ( Read more... )

As I mentioned in my last Vasari entry (and I know you've all been taking attentive notes for the midterm), a lot of the artists Vasari wrote about worked on military fortifications, and not just the architects, either: plenty of painters and sculptors (like Michelangelo) were entrusted with building forts, as well as other public works, such as ( Read more... )

And now, passing from the naughty bits, to the gloomy ones.

( Nine deaths, but also some good fortune )

Because what 2000-page book would be complete without some?

( Six quotes )

At long last, I've finished transcribing and arranging all the quotes I've wanted to share from Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Look out, world ( Read more... )

Here, have six quotes from Vasari about Leonardo da Vinci.

( Read more... )

I first heard of Giorgio Vasari in art museums: every placard beside a Renaissance Italian painting, it seemed, mentioned his Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects as the source for whatever interesting anecdote the museum had to tell you about the artist or his painting. "How cool it must be to read that book for oneself," ( Read more... )