Documenting the Lives of Artists and Art Collectors

One of the earliest biographies of artists, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, was written by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The book, which has had numerous editions, discusses 175 Italians over a 300-year span, from Cimabue to Michelangelo. It is a measure of the importance of both this book and the Internet as a new transmitter of information that a translation of Vasari’s work can be found at the Australian National University’s Web site <https://rubens.anu.edu.au.imageserve/texts/vasari/>. Moreover, Firenze by Net <https://www.italink.com/eng/egui/pers/vasa.htm> provides a two-page essay on Vasari himself!