- Those who love art history see Giorgio Vasari as its first historian. He writes his three-volume history in the greatest city of the Renaissance—Florence.
- Vasari makes Renaissance artists the rock stars of his day. He can write about artists because he is a friend to many artists. His best friend was none other than Michelangelo.
- Vasari himself is an accomplished artist. He makes oil paintings and does ceiling frescoes, he designs bridges and marketplaces, and he writes about the artists he knows who live during this special time in the world of art.
- His art history covers the lives and work of over 300 artists in Italy and Northern Europe. For some of the artists he wrote about, we know little about them except for the stories that Vasari hears and writes in his book.
- Sometimes Vasari exaggerates. Sometimes he embellishes the quality of the work. The artists emerge larger than life. For the society of his day, they are. Yet, in the telling of gossip and rumors, Vasari gives a wonderful picture of the characters of the artists and tells all sorts of amusing stories. He describes their work as only another artist could.
- Vasari publishes Lives of the Artists in 1550. He writes about painters, architects, and sculptors who live in Italy and Northern Europe during the period we know as the Renaissance.
The Northern Renaissance
The Northern Renaissance
Your young learner has met Vasari's Rock Stars from Italy. Now introduce your student to the Rock Stars of the North.
Jan Van Eyck invented a way to paint that changed art forever; we call it oil painting. Albrecht Durer got people excited about the Renaissance in lands of forests and snow. Hans Holbein the Younger drew portraits of people who seem alive. Pieter Brueghel the Elder painted people dancing, working, and playing games. Come meet them all.
