Lives of the Artists, Vol. 2

EXCELLENT. I was so happy to receive this

There are rare eras in history where men have recorded their shared feeling of the sheer exuberance of life. Wordsworth’s oft cited quip, “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive” was said of revolutionary Europe. Plato’s dialogues overflow with newfound joy in the power of reason. The early Christians couldn’t stop taking about the joy found in the power of love. And Giorgio Vasari wrote what he believed the be the zenith of artistic achievement in the Italian Renaissance.What’s interesting about these eras is that in some ways they were, to paraphrase Dickens, the worst time to be alive. The French Revolution quickly descended into terror while the monarchs of Europe united to quash democracy. The Peloponnesian war occupied much of Plato’s youth. The Italian Renaissance was fraught with Machiavellian warfare. And the early Roman Empire was anything but friendly to the Christian gospel.And yet, these authors couldn’t stop expressing their joy. This suggests to me that Stoicism, confirmed with modern psychology, is on to something. Our external circumstances only make up a part of happiness. Far more important for these writers was the feeling of participating in something great, of living under the sight of eternity.Which is why it’s worth reading Vasari’s account of the lives of the Renaissance artists. It’s hard not to be caught up in Vasari’s feeling of living in one of the great eras of history. If you read the Bible for inspiration or loved studying Plato in college you might want to try this text. It certainly makes for appropriate reading as the Northern Hemisphere is returning to verdant Spring. Highly recommended.

Vasari was a life-long correspondent of Michaelangelo, a contemporary of Leonardo, etc., so the accounts are written about his friends and comnpetitors, not 100+ years later, thru the prism of time. Yet this translation is in readable, 20th Century English.The chapters on Brunelleschi, Donato, etc. are lively, entertaining as well as instructive. MUST reading for anyone going to Italy, or to see works of the Florentine artists.(N.B. I am an engineer who never had a fine arts class, ever!)

Letters too small. Imposible to read.