Vasari, Giorgio

Vasari, Giorgio an Italian author and painter, was born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, in 1512. He studied art, architecture, and painting practically; became the pupil and friend of Michael Angelo; and obtained the; patronage of such distinguished persons as cardinal Ippolito de Medici, pope Clement VII, and the dukes Alessandro and Cosmo de Medici. He painted numerous: works in various parts of Italy, among them several noted pictures in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and in the Sala Regia in the Vatican. As an architect Vasari attained greater excellence than as a painter. He built the church of Abbadia is Arezzo; a great part of the palace of Julius III at Rome; and the Palazzo Uffizi in Florence, commenced in 1561 'and completed, after his death, by Alfonlso Parigi. This last is considered by critics to be his best architectural work. Many other buildings and parts of structures are ascribed to him; and he was chiefly instrumental in re- establishing the Florentine Academy of Design. He died in Florence, Jan. 27, 1574. As a writer on art Vasari attained considerable celebrity. He entered upon his work at the suggestion of cardinal Farnese, and subsequently enlarged the: scope and plan of his book. It is entitled Vite de piiu Eccelenti Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti, and was first published in Florence in two volumes (1550). In 1556 he undertook a new tour to prepare materials for a second edition, which appeared in 1568. Several subsequent editions appeared from time to time, a recent one in Florence, in thirteen volumes (1846-57). It has been translated into English and published in Bohn's. Standard Library. See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.