A striking account of Vasari's career, friendships, and contribution to the art of the Italian Renaissance
Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Architects, Painters, and Sculptors, first published in 1550, fixed for three hundred years general European views about the art of the Renaissance, and its influence still lingers today. While much has been written about Vasari's writings, comparatively few full-length studies have dealt with the man himself. In this book, T.S.R. Boase offers a compelling account of Vasari's life and career. At the same time, Boase explores Vasari's ideas about the art and artists he described in the two editions of his Lives, placing these reflections in their contemporary context and later developments in art history and criticism. The result is an important appraisal of Vasari's achievement, which despite its imperfections is without parallel in the history of Western art.

T.S.R. Boase (1898-1974) was an eminent art historian and the author of many books. Over a long and distinguished career, he served as director of the Courtauld Institute, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, and president of Magdalen College, Oxford.