Customer Reviews

The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics)

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In studying up for a visit to Italy I noticed that art historians still directly and frequently cite this book, written over 400 years ago. Since Vasari was a contemporary of the High-Renaissance artists, I thought it would be interesting to read his descriptions of artists and their technical development. The book is organized into a series of essays focusing on artists from Cimabue to Titian. In this translation, the editors have included only those artists still believed to have made a significant contribution.

To my surprise, this book was not only informative, but it was also quite entertaining. Vasari focuses mostly on the artistic development of each artist, but frequently strays into fascinating stories about their personal lives. The writing style is surprisingly readable, thanks to both Vasari and the editors. The notes in the back of the book are extremely useful. They point out where Vasari has been proven inaccurate, elaborate on some of Vasari's points, and provide updated locations for some of the works.

This book was invaluable during my recent trip to Tuscany and Umbria. It was thrilling to read Vasari's descriptions of great fresco cycles, paintings, and sculptures while I was viewing them in person, whether in the Uffizi in Florence or the Duomo in Orvieto. I cannot recommend this book enough to all art lovers, particularly those who are planning a visit to central Italy.

I read this book in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florence. I am a big Michelangelo fan to begin with, and the idea of reading something written by a contemporary and aficionado of his was intriguing. I was well rewarded for my interests.

Vasari clearly idolized Michelangeo and Raphael. That is apparent, but as he did for every other artist's Life he covered, the level of personal detail and anecdotes is invaluable for someone like me looking for the story behind the artists. Artists from each phase of the Renaissance are covered with detail of both their personal and artistic lives. I can say I learned so much from each chapter that I will surely be taking this book with me for reference when I am in Florence.

One caveat, I think it would be helpful to have a book with photographs of the works Vasari discusses. Unless you are already up to speed on the major Renaissance works, it is more helpful to visualize them with the assistance of Vasari's descriptions. I found myself running to the internet often to see what he had been talking about.

Kick back and relax with this very easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable guide to some of the Renaissance's finest artists.

Vasari's Lives of the Artist deserves to be published as one of the world's classics. Unfortunately, the Bondanellas did not translate all of the vite and some of the biographies in this volume are abridged. Still, although it contains a few minor errors, this elegant and lively translation of the Lives is the best available in English.

If you were to read a modern art history book of the high Renaissance, chances are the author of the book drew at least some of his information from this book written by Giorgio Vasari. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance artist who also wrote about the various artists of his time. A contemporary of Michangelo, Georgi Vasari's book reads like a Who's Who of Renaissance artists. For a book more than four hundred years old, the style is amazingly modern and interesting.
Vasari has an artist's eye for critiquing another artist's work. His writing style is not boring, whereas many would be reduced to general descriptions like "beautiful" and "amateurish", he dissects the artist's work between strong and weak points, pigments and flesh tones or landscapes vs. portraits or the use of light and perspective. He states the reason why some art or one artist is renowned and others ignored. His judgments have generally stood the test of time. Vasari also weaves in some interesting tidbits and anecdotes of the Artist's life. I found this book more interesting than many modern day Art History books.

I found this to be a magnificent reference for anyone interested in learning about the Renaissance art and artists. Vasari wrote the original text between 1563 and 1568, and he knew the greats such as Michelangelo and da Vinci personally as well as many others and imparts both his knowledge and first hand impressions of these great artists not found in any other reference. Vasari himself was a very talented artist apprenticing under Michelangelo directly. This is a wonderful text and facinating source of hard to find information. You will enjoy it.

Vasari interprets the plastic and architectonic arts (painting, sculpture and architecture) as means for promoting the glory of God, as the artist, in his creative act, emulates the supreme creative act of the deity and is thus brought closer to him. His history of Renaissance, or, in Vasari's terms "modern", art spans from the early medieval masters, such as Cimabue and Giotto, up to the great trimuvirate of the high Renaissance, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, whom Vasari regards with immense reverence as the greatest artist of all time, a genius who even surpassed the perfection of the ancients, and even nature itself. The history describes the gradual advances inaugurated by Giotto and Cimabue, freeing art from the grip of the artificial and iconographic Gothic style, and the progressive development of mathematical perspective by the likes of Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Piero della Franchesca, up to Michelangelo, the genius characterised by "terribilata" and absolute mastery of the arts. A section is also devoted to the Venetian masters Titian, Giorgione and Bellini, though they receive short shrift as Vasari, being a Florentine, does not attempt to conceal his bias towards Florentine art and hostility towards the Venetians. The account is written in highly engaging and vivacious prose, with an occasionally gossipy flavour, as Vasari relates, in charming anecdotes, some of the personal events that transpired in the lives of the artists. Altogether, this is a landmark of art-historical research, compiled at a time when research techniques were extremely unreliable, and when interlibrary loans were unheard-of.

Vasari's LIVES has lived for over 450 years, and it's easy to see why! From Cimabue to Titian, he covers (in this edition)over 40 artists during about a 250 year period! A great artist himself, Vasari spares no superlatives in describing the work and lives of these individuals.They are just about all "most excellent", and produced titanic painting, sculpture, and architecture. He claims (erroneouly, according to the editors) that one murdered his rival, and definitely was not a nice guy. But the rest are generally given the royal treatment. Oddly,Botticelli seems a tad slighted. The Big Three, Leonardo,Raphael, and Michaelangelo are practically bathed in the light of the devine!.Many anecdotes are mentioned, which give real life and sometimes fun to these Olympians. Plus, discussions of the progress and styles/ techniques which come full flower with these Big Three.

Reading Vasari you have a first account of what it was like to know the artist. I was very pleased with the work on Leonardo da Vinci. This book has been the source for many articles and movies on artists. You get the information at first hand. Nobody has to tell you. The reading of this book is a must for any artist of person who claims to be a critic or art lover. Trust me. Jose Vergara, Painter of Beauty, decoloresart@earthlink.net.

Vasari's prose is effusive but easy to follow because it says the same things over and over about each artist. If you have any interest in the Italian artists this book is a crucial and reliable source of information. Artists lives with an emphasis on their contemporaries and their development are lavishly detailed in this book. It's a crucial source for a college-level art history report. Art historians respect Vasari's analyses of the artists' lives.

Vasari LOVES the High Renaissance artists, especially Michelangelo and Raphael, so you'll find that those chapters are especially long and informative. At times the praise of these artists, and others of the Renaissance, seems exaggerated and excessive. But you get the general gist of things, and find yourself itching to see the paintings that he tells stories about after you read about each artist.

Vasari is a pleasure to read. His love of his subject his understanding of art his appreciation of those greater than him all make the work inspiring. He writes the lives of the artists, and in the course of this tells the story of Renaissance Art. He begins with Cimabue and in this work finishes with Titian. His climax is in his chapter on his friend, teacher, and model for all that is great as painter, sculptor, architect Michelangelo. Vasari has a technical understanding of painting and so this work is rich in its description not only of the artists' but of their greatest works. It also has anecdotal richness, gossip and as I understand quite a bit of apocryphal material which later art historians will dispute. Nonetheless it is a prime source document containing information about the lives of artists who otherwise would be largely forgotten. But above all I think the work is a tribute to the creative spirit of the artist in service of the Divine .
The Penguin edition as I understand it contains only a small proportion( though the most important)of the lives. It is nonetheless highly recommended not only for those who will study this artist or visit the sites at which it is located but for all who are interested in the human spirit in creative struggle and triumph.