Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Dedication to the Artists in Design
TO THE ARTISTS IN DESIGN.
GIORGIO VASARI.
Most dear and excellent Brother Artists,—the delight, as well as the honour and profit that I have derived from labouring as I have best been able in these most noble arts, has ever been so great, that I have not only felt an ardent wish to exalt, to celebrate, and to honour them by every means in my power, but have also been ever most affectionately disposed towards all who take similar pleasure in them, or who have distinguished themselves more happily in the pursuit of them than I, perchance, have been able to do. And from this, my good will and fulness of most sincere affection, it appears to me, that I have hitherto gathered the due and proper fruits, having been constantly beloved and honoured by all of you; and the intercourse between us having always been of a cordial intimacy, if I might not rather say of the most perfect brotherhood,—for we have mutually laid open to each other our various works,—I to you, and you to me,— assisting one another whenever the occasion presented itself, both with council and with aid. Wherefore, moved by this our affection, and much more by your excellent talents, but also by mv own inclination, by nature, and by a most potent instinct and attraction, I have always felt deeply bound to gratify and serve you, in every manner, and by all means, that I have judged likely to contribute either to your enjoyment or advantage. To this end it was, that in the year 1550, I put forth the lives of those most renowned and esteemed among us, moved thereunto by a cause recounted elsewhere, and also (to declare the truth) by a generous indignation that so much talent should remain concealed for so long a time, and still continue buried. For does this my labour appear to have been unwelcome; on the contrary, it has been so well accepted, that,—besides the many things that have been said and written to me from many parts,—of the very large number that was printed of my book, there does not remain one single volume in the hands of the booksellers.
Accordingly, daily receiving requests from many friends, and knowing, too, with equal certainty, the unexpressed wishes of many others, I have once more addressed myself to my former labours, (although occupied in most important undertakings) with the intention, not only of adding the names of those who, having passed in the interim to a better world, thus give me the opportunity of writing their lives at more length, but also of supplying what may have been wanting to the perfection of the first work. For I have had opportunities in the meanwhile of attaining a clearer comprehension respecting many things, and of re-examining others ; not only by the favour of those my most illustrious lords (whom I serve), the refuge and protection of every subject of virtu ; but likewise by the facilities which they have supplied of making new researches throughout Italy, and of seeing and examining many things which had not before come under my notice. Thus, it is not enough to say that I have corrected these lives ; since they have received such large additions that many of them may be said to be written anew; while many, even of the older masters, which were not before included, have now been added to the number. Nor have any labour, cost, or pains appeared to me too great for the better restoration of the memory of those whom I so greatly honour, or for the discovering of their portraits, and the procuring them, to place before their lives. And, for the more perfect satisfaction of many friends, devoted lovers of art, though not within our ranks, I have brought into a compendious form the greater part of the works of those artists who are still living, but whose talents render them worthy to be held in constant remembrance ; for that consideration which formerly restrained me, need have no influence here, if the matter be well weighed, since I propose to speak of nothing that is not good and worthy of praise. And it may be, that these my words shall serve as a spur, moving each to continue labouring worthily, and to seek to advance himself perpetually from good to better ; insomuch, that he who shall write the remainder of this history, may be able to treat his subject with increased grandeur and majesty, as having to enumerate those more rare and perfect works, which, in the lapse of time, inspired by the longing for immortality, and worked out by the efforts of exalted minds, the future world shall behold, proceeding from your hands. Then the youth who pursue these studies, incited by the love of glory (when the love of gain has not so strong an influence) may perchance become inflamed by the example, and in their turn attain to excellence.
And that this book may be complete in all its parts, so that the reader shall not need to seek anything beyond it, I have added great part of the works of the most celebrated ancient masters, as well Greek as of other nations, the memory of whom has been preserved even to our own days by Pliny, and other writers ; but for whose pens that memory must have been buried in eternal oblivion, as is the case with so many others. And perhaps this consideration also may increase our desire to labour truly ; for, seeing the nobility and greatness of our art, and how, by all nations, but especially by the most exalted minds, and the most potent rulers, it has ever been honoured and rewarded, we may all be the more influenced and impelled to adorn the world with works, infinite as to number and surpassing in their excellence,— whence, embellished by our labours, it may place us on that eminence which it has maintained those ever admirable and most celebrated spirits.
Accept these my labours, therefore, with a friendly mind ; whatsoever they may be, I have anxiously conducted the work to its close, for the glory of art, and to the honour of artists ; receive it then as a sure token and pledge of my heart, which is of nothing more desirous than of your greatness and glory. In the which, I being received by you into your Society (wherefore I am both thankful to you, and rejoiced no little as for mine own part), it appears to me that I always, in a certain sort, participate.