Vasari and the historical imagination

First published in Florence in 1550 and reprinted in revised and amplified form in 1568, Vasari's Lives of the artists remains one of the great classics of world literature. It is also a foundational text in the formation of modern art history, a not inconsequential achievement in the cultural life of the last half millennium. The body of writing on Vasari's great book is huge, the increase of such publications in recent years seemingly exponential.1 Even so, the investigation of Va sari's fecund work remains partial, some might even say superficial. Although aspects of his book have been carefully examined, for example, his use of sources, his theory of art, and criticism, surprisingly little attention has been paid by students of Renaissance culture — by historians, art historians and scholars of literature alike — to his historical imagination. © 1999 Taylor and Francis Group, Ltd.