Vasari, Giorgio

Vasari, Giorgio (1511–74). Italian architect, author, and painter. His Le Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori, e scultori italiani (Lives of the Most Eminent Italian Architects, Painters, and Sculptors) was published in 1550 and is a prime source of information on Renaissance architecture as well as having been a key document in creating perceptions about the period. An expanded edition came out in 1568. As an architect he made an important contribution to the designs for the Villa Giulia, Rome (1551–5), vetted by Michelangelo and realized by Vignola and Ammannati. In 1555 he settled in Florence to work for Duke Cosimo I de' Medici (1519–74). There, he created his masterpiece, the Uffizi, the Government Offices of the Tuscan State (1560–80s), with façades influenced by Bramante's Belvedere in the Vatican, Michelangelo's Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, and Peruzzi's Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, Rome. The Uffizi buildings enclose a long piazzetta terminated at the river end by a loggia incorporating a serliana, and was completed by Buontalenti, who designed several Mannerist details, including the Porta delle Suppliche.

At Arezzo Vasari designed the Church of Santi Fiora e Lucilla (1564–86) on a plan resembling that of San Marco, Venice, and the handsome loggia in the Piazza Grande (1570–96). He also carried out several major alterations of church interiors following the Council of Trent (1545–63) which required unimpeded views of the high-altar. His drastic work at Santa Croce (1565–84) and Santa Maria Novella (1565–72), Florence, gave the interiors architectural unity, but also removed many medieval features.

Bibliography

Boase (1979);
M. Hall (1979);
Heydenreich (1996);
Satkowski (1979, 1993);
Jane Turner (1996);
Vasari (1912–15)