Vasari’s Influence on Defining “The Artist”

Being one, if not the first, art historian, Vasari helped to define the art historical discipline by bringing the power of history into the artists hands. In Vasari’s texts, he was able to name specific artists and attribute greatness and skill to the individual rather than the period, the culture, the style, or the patron. This autonomy of the artist provided a unique perspective on how art began to be perceived as well as gave an outline as to how great artists were defined. Preziosi’s article reflected on Vasari’s ability to give fame to an artist in their immediate time by attributing greatness to a specific narrative of evolving style. This narrative stems from classical motifs and drove forward the perception of the exclusive greatness of the classical cannon.

This perspective of placing artistic credit directly in the hands of the artist has carried through the art historical field and has directed art history to consider the individual artist in interpretations of a work. This perspective grew ever more important in modern/contemporary art as art became a discipline to express the subconscious. Art became a personal expression no longer attributed to a traditional style. As traditional style has been critiqued, Vasari’s classical/Italian Renaissance cannon has also begun to be critiqued. There ever remains a bias in what can be deemed as great art yet those conventions are little by little being broken down so that art and genius can be determined by any cultural narrative, and not just a classical narrative timeline.

 

 

Readings Referenced

Preziosi, Donald. “Rethinking Art History: Meditations on a Coy Science.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 49, no. 1 (1991): 95–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540_6245.jaac49.1.0095.

Vasari, Giorgio. “Preface to the Third Part: Giorgio Vasari 27.” Readings in Italian Mannerism, n.d. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-1-4539-1013-9/7.

 

Featured Image

Self-Portrait of Vasari by Giorgio Vasari, 1568