Leonardo da Vinci

'In this painting of Leonardo's there was a smile so pleasing that it seemed divine rather than human.' 
 
Often called "the first art historian", Vasari writes with delight on the lives of Leonardo and other celebrated Renaissance artists . 
 
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. 
 
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). Vasari's works available in Penguin Classics are Lives of the Artists Volume I and Volume II.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). Vasari's works available in Penguin Classics are Lives of the Artists Volume I and Volume II.

'In this painting of Leonardo's there was a smile so pleasing that it seemed divine rather than human.'

Lives of the Artists

Lives of the Artists made Vasari one of the most influential art historians of all time, fusing literary and artistic ability

Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was an accomplished painter and architect, but it is for his illuminating biographies of artists that he is best remembered. George Bull translated widely from the Italian during his lifetime, and also wrote several books on the Renaissance period.

In his Lives of the Artists of the Italian Renaissance, Vasari demonstrated a literary talent that outshone even his outstanding abilities as a painter and architect. 
Through character sketches and anecdotes he depicts Piero di Cosimo shut away in his derelict house, living only to paint; Giulio Romano's startling painting of Jove striking down the giants; and his friend Francesco Salviati, whose biography also tells us much about Vasari's own early career. Vasari's original and soaring vision plus his acute aesthetic judgements have made him one of the most influential art historians of all time.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was an accomplished painter and architect, but it is for his illuminating biographies that he is best remembered. 
George Bull translated widely from the Italian, including for Penguin Classics including Cellini's 'Autobiography' and Machiavelli's 'The Prince'. He is also the author of a number of books on the Renaissance.

Beginning with Cimabue and Giotto in the thirteenth century, Vasari traces the development of Italian art across three centuries to the golden epoch of Leonardo and Michelangelo. Great men, and their immortal works, are brought vividly to life, as Vasari depicts the young Giotto scratching his first drawings on stone; Donatello gazing at Brunelleschi's crucifix; and Michelangelo's painstaking work on the Sistine Chapel, harassed by the impatient Pope Julius II. The Lives also convey much about Vasari himself and his outstanding abilities as a critic inspired by his passion for art.

Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects: Volume 1

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects: Volume 2

Giorgio Vasari

Gives a different perspective on the artists covered in the books as written by a contemporary.

The best way to be informed about Leonardo and his contemporaries will be to read their Lives, done by Vasari

The painter and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was a pupil of Michaelangelo who worked mainly in Florence and Rome. He is famous today, however, as the author of LIVES OF THE PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS, the work which effectively founded the study of art history and remains one of its greatest monuments. Vasari's distinctive blend of biography and criticism has exerted an immeasurable influence on all subsequent historians, but its value for contemporary readers consists as much in the liveliness and piquancy of the stories his book contains, and the vivid light it casts on the great masters of early Italian painting.

Lives of the Painters Boxed Set

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

sectionTitle

isEnabled

anchor

anchorLabel

prhuk/featured-book

prhuk/praise-section

maxBooks

showViewMore

prhuk/books-section

hideAuthorAlert

formName

iterableDivision

iterableBrand

buttonText

description

heading

legalText

successHeading

successText

image

alignment

variation

prhuk/email-section

prhuk/series-section

prhuk/biography-section

prhuk/articles-section

prhuk-authors

Everyman's Library CLASSICS

Penguin Little Black Classics

Hunt the Villain

From the Library of Jurgen Leitner

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Fight or Flight (Book 21)

Little Black Classics Box Set

Giorgio Vasari

Praise for Lives of the Painters Boxed Set

Gives a different perspective on the artists covered in the books as written by a contemporary.

Superb "dip in" reference book

The best way to be informed about Leonardo and his contemporaries will be to read their Lives, done by Vasari

Gives a different perspective on the artists covered in the books as written by a contemporary.

Superb "dip in" reference book

The best way to be informed about Leonardo and his contemporaries will be to read their Lives, done by Vasari

Gives a different perspective on the artists covered in the books as written by a contemporary.

Superb "dip in" reference book

The best way to be informed about Leonardo and his contemporaries will be to read their Lives, done by Vasari

Books by Giorgio Vasari

Series by Giorgio Vasari

Lives of the Artists

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter