Vasari
GIORGIO (vä-sä'rē), an Italian painter and architect, but most distinguished as the biographer of artists; born in Arezzo, Tuscany, July 30, 1512.
He studied under Luca Signorelli, Michael Angelo, and Andrea del Sarto. As an architect he showed great ability, as exemplified in his designs of the Palazzo degli Uffizi at Florence, and the church of Abbadia at Arezzo. As a painter he was less successful. His principal paintings are a "Lord's Supper," in the cathedral of Arezzo, several works in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and in the Vatican in Rome. His "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects" is of great interest, but it exhibits many errors respecting the earlier masters; and it is also guilty of partiality toward the Tuscan artists. It was first printed in 1550, and an enlarged and improved edition appeared in 1568. It has been translated into English. Vasari died in Florence, June 27, 1574.