Lives of the Artists, Giorgio Vasari, transl. George Bull, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, 1987

Introduction (pp. vii-xxiv): Vasari's second edition (1568) emended
somewhat the material on Michelangelo, added more artists alive in 1550
when the first edition appeared and provided more than half a million
words. It includes a life of Vasari himself. Vasari painted throughout
Italy, though chiefly in Florence and Rome. Encouraged to write about
artists, he did so with a complex purpose, including teaching and
inspiring those entering the profession.

The original has some one hundred and sixty lives. I translated twenty
for my first volume and nineteen for this second one. Vasari's triadic
division of art history is not unanimously accepted by current critics.
He was very observant and could praise even what was done contrary to
his conceptions.

   Vasari was, in fact, if sometimes careless, extremely observant both
   in the details of works of art (such as, in sculpture, the
   difference between a Greek and a Florentine nose, which he refers to
   in his technical introduction to the Lives) and of the existence and
   strength of certain styles, notably the Byzantine (Greek), Gothic
   (German), and High Renaissance (Modern). His way of looking at
   things was highly Italian and Tuscan, formed not only by the
   developing culture of the age in which he lived - humanist,
   mercantile, religious, courtly, and competitive - but by the very
   air itself. The light and shade in Italy and the contours of the
   land are among the factors which account for the age-old Italian
   mastery of design and obsessive sense of visual beauty. p. xix

Inaccurate information in the text is not corrected, though correct
dates are provided at the beginning of each life. Acknowledgements are
stated.

Nicola and Giovanni Pisano c. 1220/5-1284? and 1245/50-after 1313 (pp.
1-18): Nicola studied under Greeks and was influenced by ancient works.
He erected buildings and sculpted in Florence and Pisa. He worked for
Pope Clement IV at Viterbo and King Charles I at Naples.

(to be continued...)


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