The Greatness of Giorgio Vasari
We owe it to future generations to not only live but also to tell the stories of our generation.
The years between 1300-1576 were one of the greatest years in terms of human creativity. Humanity saw the peak of human creativity in arts, literature, philosophy, music, politics, technology, and science. Italy raised the crooked timber called homo sapiens to a new level of performance that continues to fascinate us. Writers who pushed the limit of literature, philosophers who shifted the foundations of thought, and leaders who led their people to a new age. Even in the Renaissance, men and women knew they were ushering in the future. Can you beat that? They knew they were shaping history.
This was the age of Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael Santi, and Michelangelo. These artists and many more painted such great paintings that some were described as done by angels. Their lives were as fascinating as their painting. However, this was not just the age of Leonardo and Michangelo. This was also the age of Giotto (1267–1337), Masaccio (1401-1428), Fra Angelico (1395-1455), Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), Perugino (1446-1523), Titian (c. 1488-1576), Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Petrarch (1304-1374).
But you know what? We almost would have known nothing about these guys. We would have seen their works but we would have missed their personal lives and their processes, except one man saved us.
His name was Giogio Vasari. Giorgio Vasari was an architect, painter, writer, and historian, which was no remarkable thing in the Renaissance. Consider that Leonardo Da Vinci was an artist, inventor, scientist, philosopher, engineer, botanist, musician, painter, sculptor, anatomist, etc. Anyway, back to Giorgio Vasari, a Renaissance man who should have made his name in his work, but chose a different route. Vasari was within the circle of many prominent artists during the Renaissance, and he realized one important thing; while everyone was working and creating, no one was writing for posterity. He wanted future men and women like you and me to know how these men lived, worked, and died. First, he admired the artists and their works and knew many would admire them. And so, he started writing! In 1550, he released his book, "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," to the world.
It is to this book that we owe most of our knowledge about the lives of the artists during the Renaissance. Will Durant wrote about him:
“Probably Duke Cosimo’s favorite artist was the man to whom this and every book on the Italian Renaissance owes half its life—Giorgio Vasari… It did for the artists of Renaissance Italy what Plutarch had done for the martial or civic heroes of Greece and Rome. It will remain for centuries to come one of the classics of the world’s literature.”
"Vasari's 'Lives' is a book of inexhaustible interest, a repository of the gossip, scandals, and achievements of the Renaissance artists. It is a book that has been read and reread for centuries, and yet remains a source of fresh delight and inspiration. For in its pages we find the very essence of the Renaissance spirit - the passion, the energy, the creativity, and the unbridled individualism that made Italy the center of the artistic world."
"Vasari's Lives of the Artists is a cornerstone of Renaissance history, a book of 500 pages, written with the flair of a novelist, the insight of a philosopher, and the precision of a scholar. It is a collection of biographies, not always accurate, but always vivid and revealing, of 161 artists, from Cimabue to Michelangelo. Vasari's own experiences, his friendships and rivalries, his own successes and failures, give the book a warmth and intimacy that make it hard to put down. He writes of artists as living men, not merely as creators of masterpieces; he describes their appearance, their habits, their loves, their quarrels, and their fate. He makes us feel the passionate intensity of their lives, their devotion to their art, their struggles against poverty and neglect, their triumphs over obstacles and critics. Through Vasari's pages, we enter into the very heart of the Renaissance, and see its art and artists as an integral part of a vibrant, pulsating society."
As you can see, our debt to Giorgio Vasari is large. To him, we owe so much that we know about the Renaissance. But what if Vasari had not written?
His story reminds me of the book of Luke in the New Testament. While many other men had lived with Jesus and many of them had heard the stories about Him, it was Luke who put his pen down and began writing the first comprehensive biography of Jesus and the early church. To him, we owe the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts.
We owe it to future generations to not only live but also to tell the stories of our generation. We owe it to them to write and to pass on the greatness of our age.
The greatness of Giorgio Vasari lies in the fact that he decided to write. He was sensational, he was wrong in some parts, and he was biased, but he gave us something for the ages. 500 years later, it is indispensable to us. And I wager, it will be indispensable for another 500 years, for men and women cannot stop being fascinated by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Vasari was a vane man who added his profile to the book. But I forgive him. He knew he was writing for others. He knew he was collecting the “Who’s Who” of Renaissance art. He wanted to ensure that future generations would know that they lived and that they would know how they lived and created greatness.
Thank you, Vasari.
Profound. Excellent. Thank you.