Vasari’s Words: The ’lives of the Artists’ as a History of Ideas in the Italian Renaissance

262 Pages·2018·33.207 MB·English

by  Douglas Biow

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VASARI’S WORDS
The Lives of the Artists as a History of Ideas in the Italian Renaissance
In this book, Douglas Biow analyzes Vasari’s Lives of the Artists— often considered
the first great work of art history in the modern era—f rom a new perspective.
He focuses on keywords and shows how they address a variety of compelling,
culturally determined ideas circulating in late Renaissance Italy. The keywords
chosen for this study investigate five seemingly divergent, yet still interconnected,
ideas. What does it mean to have a “profession,” professione, and possess “genius,”
ingegno, in the visual arts? How is “speed,”prestezza, valued among visual artists
of the period and how is “time,” tempo, conceptualized in Vasari’s narrative and
descriptions of visual art? Finally, how is the “night,” notte, conceived and visu-
ally represented as a distinct span of time in the Lives? Written in an engaging
manner for specialists and non- specialists alike, Vasari’s Words places the Lives— a
truly foundational and innovative book of Western culture—w ithin the context
of the modern discipline of intellectual history.
Douglas Biow is the Superior Oil Company- Linward Shivers Centennial
Professor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and Director of the Center for
European Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of five
prior books, including most recently The Culture of Cleanliness in Renaissance
Italy (2006), In Your Face: Professional Improprieties and the Art of Being Conspicuous
(2010), and On the Importance of Being an Individual: Men, Their Professions, and
Their Beards (2015). He has been the recipient of a number of scholarly awards,
including NEH, Delmas, and Guggenheim fellowships.
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VASARI’S WORDS

The Lives of the Artists as a History of Ideas
in the Italian Renaissance
M
DOUGLAS BIOW
University of Texas, Austin
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www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/ 9781108472050
DOI: 10.1017/ 9781108641227
© Cambridge University Press 2018
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2018
Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Biow, Douglas, author.
Title: V asari’s words : the ‘Lives of the artists’ as a history of ideas in the
Italian Renaissance / Douglas Biow, University of Texas, Austin.
Description: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018029873 | ISBN 9781108472050 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Vasari, Giorgio, 1511–1574. Vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori,
scultori et architettori. | Renaissance–Italy.
Classification: LCC N7483.V37B56 2019 | DDC 709.2–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029873
ISBN 978- 1- 108- 47205- 0 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third- party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
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For my mother,

Margot H. Feely
(in light of her love for printed books and the visual arts,
as a once- upon- a- time copyeditor, production editor, and book editor,
first at the Spiral Press and then the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
with gratitude and love for all that she has done
for me
M
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Without a doubt those who are the inventors of anything notable receive

the greatest attention from the pens of writers of histories [Senza dubbio
coloro che sono inventori d’alcuna cosa notabile hanno grandissima parte nelle
penne di chi scrive l’istorie].
— Giorgio Vasari, “The Life of Duccio, Painter of Siena,” the
Lives (1568)
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CONTENTS

List of Illustrations page viii
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xix
Notes on Translation xxi
Introduction 1
1 Professione/ Profession 27
2 Ingegno/ Genius 51
3 Prestezza/ Speed 80
4 Tempo/ Time 109
5 Notte/ Night 141
Conclusion 176
Notes 181
Bibliography 213
Index 235
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ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Followers of Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Portrait (ca. 1550– 66/ 8). page 2
2. Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483– 1520), The School of Athens
(ca. 1510– 12). 3
3. Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483– 1520), The School of Athens
(ca. 1510– 12). Detail. 4
4. Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483– 1520), La Disputa, Theology
(ca. 1510– 12). 5
5. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Le vite dei piu eccellenti architetti, pittori,
et scultori italiani (1550). 9
6. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Le vite de’ piu eccellenti pittori, scultori,
e architettori (1568). 10
7. Theodoor Galle (1571– 1633) after Johannes Stradanus
(1523– 1605), Jan van Eyck’s Workshop (ca. 1580– 1605). 32
8. Leonardo da Vinci (1452– 1519), Storm in the Alps (ca. 1503– 5). 34
9. Bastiano (Aristotile) da Sangallo (1481–1 551), Copy of the drawing
of Michelangelo’s cartoon, “Battle of Cascina” (ca. 1542). 36
10. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Tomb of Michelangelo (1570). 38
11. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Man in a Cloak Drawing (ca. 1550). 46
12. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Descent from the Cross (1567). 47
13. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Page from “Libro de’ Disegni,” with
drawings by Filippino Lippi, Botticelli, and Raffaellino del Garbo
(ca. 1480– 1504; mounting and framework by Vasari after 1524). 49
14. Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola, 1503– 1540), A Painter’s
Apprentice Grinding Pigments on the Lid of a Chest (ca. 1530). 53
15. Ottavio Vannini (1585– 1643), Lorenzo the Magnificent and the
Young Artists in His Garden School (1638– 42). 67
16. Federico Zuccaro (1542– 1609), Artists Studying the Sculptures of
the Medici Chapel (ca. 1564). 68
17. Giorgio Vasari (1511– 1574), Apotheosis of Cosimo I (1563– 1565). 72
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