Giorgio Vasari's Lives of The Artists [BBC Radio Four Podcast]

June 2, 2010

A more recent compilation of Vasari's work, featuring a younger Leonardo on the cover.

As pointed out in this informative post by Ben Lima at the Art History Newsletter, Podcasts are a wonderful way to access a wealth of information. In this new addition to the site, I will be collating links to audio and video resources exploring the subjects that you see covered on this site.

The first one is a treat! On 27 May 2010, BBC Four's 'In Our Time(IOT)' hosted by Melvyn Bragg assembled some of the world's most distinguished Renaissance Art Experts to discuss Giorgio Vasari's ubiquitous Lives of The Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects(pub.1550),  commonly summarised as Lives of The Artists.

The 'Quattrocento All Stars' discuss Vasari... though are a bit rusty on their Pliny!

Discussing this most  famous document in Art History are three modern day superstars in the field - the Professorial trio of Martin Kemp, Evelyn Welch, and David Ekserdjian

Vasari was a contemporary of Michelangelo, and whilst a distinguished painter and architect in his own right, has become most famous for being the compiler of a set of Biographies of a wide range of Renaissance Artists. It is the work which tells us of Michelangelo's struggles in painting the Sistine Frescoes and crafting the statue of David.

The book is available as a free public domain work from Project Gutenberg. More recent compilations also exist from various publishers - though many of these are abridged works. If you want the fullest experience of this work, the unabridged editions are the way to go - with Everyman's hardcover version being one of the most highly recommended.

You can stream this wonderful podcast directly from this page via the player today, visit the IOT website, or use this direct download link for the file in .mp3 format.  Enjoy!

BBC Radio4 : In Our Time - Giorgio Vasari's 'Lives of The Artists'


The cover of Lives,as printed in 1568


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Project Guttenberg only contains vol 1 of vasari's lives of artists.

Unknown said...

Dear Anonymous - this is not correct! All 10 are there if you do a search for Vasari as author >>

http://2.ly/cju3

H

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