Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists
The reading group will be held every Wednesday online on MS Teams between 5 and 6pm (GMT), beginning from the second week of Term 1. We will be reading The Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari (second edition, 1568). Please contact the organiser if you are interested and they will send you a Teams link for the first session: Stephen Bates (s.m.j.bates@warwick.ac.uk).
Feel free to read in whatever language, however the discussion and comments will be based on the English translation in the Oxford World's Classics series (OUP, 1998). This is available as an ebook from the University library. Vasari's Vite is voluminous and the Oxford edition is consequently an abridged version. For those wishing to reference the full text, Gaston de Vere's ten volume translation is available on archive.orgLink opens in a new window and at Project GutenbergLink opens in a new window.
The intended programme is set out below:
| Autumn Term | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Date | Reading | Pages (OUP edn) |
| 2 | 15 Oct. | Introduction, Preface of the Lives, Giovanni Cimabue | pp. vii-xiv, 3-14 (20) |
| 3 | 22 Oct. | Giotto, Simone Martini, Duccio | pp. 15-44 (30) |
| 4 | 29 Oct. | Preface to Part Two, Jacopo della Quercia, Luca della Robbia | pp. 47-73 (27) |
| 5 | 5 Nov. | Paolo Uccello, Ghiberti | pp. 74-100 (27) |
| 6 | 12 Nov. | reading week | |
| 7 | 19 Nov. | Filippo Brunelleschi | pp. 110-146 (37) |
| 8 | 26 Nov. | Masaccio, Donatello | pp. 101-109, 147-162 (25) |
| 9 |
3 Dec. |
Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Leon Battista Alberti, Antonello da Messina | pp. 163-190 (28) |
| 10 | 10 Dec. | Fra Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano, Domenico Ghirlandaio | pp. 191-223 (33) |
| Spring Term | |||
| 1 | 14 Jan. | Sandro Botticelli, Andrea del Verrocchio, Mantegna | pp. 224-249 (25) |
| 2 | 21 Jan. | Pinturicchio, Perugino, Luca Signorelli | pp. 250-273 (24) |
| 3 | 28 Jan. | Preface to Part Three, Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione | pp. 277-304 (28) |
| 4 | 4 Feb. | Raphael | pp. 305-338 (34) |
| 5 | 11 Feb. | Properzia de' Rossi, Rosso Fiorentino, Giulio Romano | pp. 339-359 (21) |
| 6 | 18 Feb. | reading week | |
| 7 | 25 Feb. | Domenico Beccafumi, Jacopo da Pontormo | pp. 377-413 (37) |
| 8 | 4 Mar. | Michelangelo | pp. 414-452 (38) |
| 9 | 11 Mar. | Michelangelo | pp. 452-489 (38) |
| 10 | 18 Mar. | Titian, The Author to the Artists of the Art of Design | pp. 489-511 (23) |
Members of the group are expected to complete the assigned readings prior to each session. During the meeting we will discuss the corresponding biographies in a friendly environment helping each other make the most out of the text. Though it is very welcome, no prior knowledge or expertise in the text is necessary to participate.
The reading group is open to all interested members of the university including senior and junior academic staff, postgraduate and undergraduate students, along with administrative and support staff. The group also welcomes non-university members.