Messer Giorgio, biograful lui Michelagnolo Buonarroti și a încă 160 de artiști
Messer Giorgio, the Biographer of Michelagnolo Buonarroti and 160 Other Artists

Summary/Abstract: We aim to present some aspects of Michelangelo's biography, as they appear from the first encyclopedia of visual arts in Italy, that of Giorgio Vasari. The first edition of the work Vite dei più eccellenti architetti pittori et scultori italiani da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri appeared in 1550. Basically, it is a collection of biographies of the masters who were active in the period between the 14th and 16th centuries. Michelangelo is the only living artist included in it, because he was considered by Messer Giorgio, the arrested architect and painter, as ”un artista a tutto tondo”, skilled in both painting, sculpture and architecture. The second edition of the Lives, published in 1568, is enriched with several biographies and portraits of the artists. There is also the revision of the biography of Michelangelo, who died on February 18, 1564. Some corrections were probably also required in reaction to the appearance, in 1553, of another biography dedicated to Michelangelo, compiled by a disciple of the master, Ascanio Condivi. We intend to highlight the contribution of Vasari in the analysis of the work and life of Michelagnolo, with whom he also had an exchange of letters, often included in his biography. An essential starting point for the study of the biography of the artists described, this monumental work, preceded by a technical and historical-critical introduction to the three major arts (architecture, sculpture and painting), constitutes a milestone in the historiography of the visual arts. Messer Giorgio remains the first Italian art historian, passionate and meticulous, sometimes accused of excessive literary emphasis in tracing the evolutions of art and relationships between artists or for narrating anecdotes that are difficult to prove whether they are true or not.

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