The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Lives of the
Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8),
by Giorgio Vasari
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at
no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the
terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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Title: The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors &
Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)
Author: Giorgio Vasari
Release Date: April 24, 2007 [eBook #21212]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK THE LIVES OF THE PAINTERS,
SCULPTORS & ARCHITECTS, VOLUME 1 (OF
8)***
E-text prepared by Roy BrownTHE LIVES OF THE PAINTERS, SCULPTORS &
ARCHITECTS
by
GIORGIO VASARI
In Eight Volumes
Vol. One
CONTENTS
CIMABUE (1240-1302)
ARNOLFO DI LAPO (1232-1310)
BONANNO (fl. 1174-1186
LAPO (1190-1260)
NICCOLA AND GIOVANNI PISANI fl 1205, 1278,
1250-1328) ANDREA TAFI (1250-1320)
GADDO GADDI (1259-1333)
MARGARITONE (1210-1293)
GIOTTO (1267-1337)
PUCCIO CAPANNA (fl. 1350)
AGOSTINO AND AGNOLO (fl. 1286-1330)
STEFANO AND UGOLINO (1301-1350, 1260-
1339)
PIETRO LAURATI (died c. 1350)
ANDREA PISANO (1270-1348)
BUONAMICO BUFFALMACCO (fl. 1311-1351)
AMBRUOGIO LORENZETTI (died c. 1338)
PIETRO CAVALLINI (1259-1334)
SIMONE MARTINI AND LIPPO MEMMI (1285-
1344; died 1357)
PREFACE TO THE LIVES
I am aware that it is commonly held as a fact by
most writers that sculpture, as well as painting,
was naturally discovered originally by the people of
Egypt, and also that there are others who attribute
to the Chaldeans the first rough carvings of statues
and the first reliefs. In like manner there are those
who credit the Greeks with the invention of the
brush and of colouring. But it is my opinion that
design, which is the creative principle in both arts,
came into existence at the time of the origin of all
things. When the Most High created the world and
adorned the heavens with shining lights, His
perfect intellect passing through the limpid air and
alighting on the solid earth, formed man, thusdisclosing the first form of sculpture and painting in
the charming invention of things. Who will deny
that from this man, as from a living example, the
ideas of statues and sculpture, and the questions
of pose and of outline, first took form; and from the
first pictures, whatever they may have been, arose
the first ideas of grace, unity, and the discordant
concords made by the play of lights and shadows?
Thus the first model from which the first image of
man arose was a lump of earth, and not without
reason, for the Divine Architect of time and of
nature, being all perfection, wished to demonstrate,
in the imperfection of His materials, what could be
done to improve them, just as good sculptors and
painters are in the habit of doing, when, by adding
additional touches and removing blemishes, they
bring their imperfect sketches to such a state of
completion and of perfection as they desire. God
also endowed man with a bright flesh colour, and
the same shades may be drawn from the earth,
which supplies materials to counterfeit everything
which occurs in painting. It is indeed true that it is
impossible to feel absolutely certain as to what
steps men took for the imitation of the beautiful
works of Nature in these arts before the flood,
although it appears, most probable that even then
they practised all manner of painting and sculpture;
for Bel, son of the proud Nimrod, about 200 years
after the flood, had a statue made, from which
idolatry afterwards arose; and his celebrated
daughter-in-law, Semiramis, queen of Babylon, in
the building of that city, introduced among the
ornaments there coloured representations from life
of divers kinds of animals, as well as of herself andof her husband Ninus, with the bronze statues of
her father, her mother-in-law, and her great-
grandmother, as Diodorus relates, calling them
Jove, Juno, and Ops—Greek names, which did not
then exist. It was, perhaps, from these statues that
the Chaldeans learned to make the images of their
gods. It is recorded in Genesis how 150 years
later, when Rachel was fleeing from Mesopotamia
with her husband Jacob, she stole the idols of her
father Laban. Nor were the Chaldeans singular in
making statues, for the Egyptians also had theirs,
devoting great pains to those arts, as is shown by
the marvellous tomb of that king of remote
antiquity, Osimandyas, described at length by
Diodorus, and, as the severe command of Moses
proves, when, on leaving Egypt, he gave orders
that no images should be made to God, upon pain
of death. Moses also, after having ascended the
Mount, and having found a golden calf
manufactured and adored by his people, was
greatly troubled at seeing divine honours accorded
to the image of a beast; so that he not only broke it
to powder, but, in the punishment of so great a
fault, caused the Levites to put to death many
thousands of the false Israelites who had
committed this idolatry. But as the sin consisted in
adoring idols and not in making them, it is written in
Exodus that the art of design and of making
statues, not only in marble but in all kinds of metal,
was given by the mouth of God himself to
Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Aholiab, of
the tribe of Dan, who made the two cherubim of
gold, the candles, the veil, and the borders of the
sacerdotal vestments, together with a number ofother beautiful things in the tabernacle, for no other
purpose than that people should put them on for
their own adornment and delight. From the things
seen before the flood, the pride of man found the
means to make statues of those who wished their
fame in the world to be immortal; and the Greeks,
who give a different origin to this, say that the
Ethiopians found the first statues, according to
Diodorus, the Egyptians imitated these, while the
Greeks followed the Egyptians. From this time until
Homer's day it is clear that sculpture and painting
were perfect, as we may see from the description
of Achilles' shield by that divine poet, who
represents it with such skill that the image of it is
presented to our minds as clearly as if we had
seen the thing itself. Lactantius Firmianus
attributes the credit of the invention to
Prometheus, who like God formed the human form
out of dust. But according to Pliny this art was
introduced into Egypt by Gyges of Lydia, who on
seeing his shadow cast by the fire, at once drew a
representation of himself on the wall with a piece of
coal. For some time after that it was the custom to
draw in outline only, without any colouring, Pliny
again being our authority. This was afterwards
introduced by Philocles of Egypt with considerable
pains, and also by Cleanthes and Ardices of
Corinth and by Telephanes of Sicyon. Cleophantes
of Corinth was the first of the Greeks to use
colours, and Apollodorus was the first to introduce
the brush. Polignotus of Thasos, Zeuxis and
Timagoras of Chalcis, Pythia and Aglaphon
followed them, all most celebrated, and after them
came the renowned Apelles who was so highlyesteemed and honoured for his skill by Alexander
the Great, for his wonderful delineation of Calumny
and Favour, as Lucian relates. Almost all the
painters and sculptors were of high excellence,
being frequently endowed by heaven, not only with
the additional gift of poetry, as we read in
Pacuvius, but also with that of philosophy.
Metrodorus is an instance in point, for he was
equally skilled as a philosopher and as a painter,
and when Apelles was sent by the Athenians to
Paulus Emilius to adorn his triumph he remained to
teach philosophy to the general's sons. Sculpture
was thus generally practised in Greece, where
there flourished a number of excellent artists,
among them being Phidias of Athens, Praxiteles
and Polycletus, very great masters. Lysippus and
Pyrgoteles who were of considerable skill in
engraving, and Pygmalion in ivory carving in relief,
it being recorded of him that he obtained life by his
prayers for the figure of a maid carved by him. The
ancient Greeks and Romans also honoured and
rewarded painting, since they granted the
citizenship and very liberal gifts to those who
excelled in this art. Painting flourished in Rome to
such an extent that Fabius gave a name to his
house, subscribing himself in the beautiful things
he did in the temple of safety as Fabius the
painter. By public decree slaves were prohibited
from practising painting, and so much honour was
continually afforded by the people to the art and to
artists that rare works were sent to Rome among
the spoils to appear in the triumphs; excellent
artists who were slaves obtained their liberty and
received notable rewards from the republic. TheRomans bore such a reverence for the art that
when the city of Syracuse was sacked Marcellus
gave orders that his men should treat with respect
a famous artist there, and also that they should be
careful not to set fire to a quarter in which there