Vasari: ‘The Lives’ and afterlives of Renaissance artists
- Wednesday, 1 April 2026
- Wednesday, 8 April 2026
- Wednesday, 15 April 2026
- Wednesday, 22 April 2026
- Wednesday, 29 April 2026
Enrol
| Standard: | £75 |
| Concessions: | £71.25 |
Please book a ticket to access the event. You will receive an E-ticket with instructions on how to access your online events, films and resources via your National Gallery account.
Please note, only one ticket can be booked per account.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.
About
In this five-week course, led by Dr Jenny Graham, we explore Giorgio Vasari’s book 'The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects' as both a foundational art historical text and a vivid work of Renaissance storytelling.
During the Italian Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) set out to tell a new kind of story about art. First published in 1550 and expanded in 1568, the book was the first sustained attempt to write a history of art through the lives of its makers. In doing so, Vasari laid the foundations of art history itself, and created many of the ideas about artistic genius, progress and rivalry that still shape how we look at art today.
Moving from Giotto to Michelangelo, Vasari constructs a sweeping narrative of artistic progress from the 1300s to the 1570s. Along the way, he offers close descriptions of artworks, sharp judgements of character, and a wealth of memorable stories that blur the line between fact and fiction.
Across the course, we will examine how issues of patronage, gender, religion, humanism and competition inform Vasari’s vision, and how his ideas went on to shape museums, collections and the discipline of art history itself. We’ll also trace the afterlife of Vasari’s 'Lives', from 19th-century Romantic artists and poets to its enduring influence on how art is written about today.
Alongside the grand narrative, we’ll enjoy the human drama of Vasari’s tales: from artists who neglect sleep for perspective, painters who forget to eat, lovers who bring about untimely deaths and saints and sinners whose personal conduct becomes inseparable from their art.
No prior reading is required. This course is designed for anyone curious about how the history of art was first imagined, and why Vasari’s stories continue to shape the way we see artists and artworks now.
In this first session, we will consider the structure and key themes of Vasari’s 'Lives', and his strategy to shift the conception of artists from craftsmen to infinitely more powerful individuals in society. It was during the Renaissance that ‘the artist’ was first defined in the terms we now recognise. In Vasari’s book, the best of his artists become celebrated personalities, capable of moving in the highest social circles. We will also consider Vasari’s career as an artist and architect, and his ascent to become chief artistic advisor to Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519–1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany, despite Vasari’s modest background.
Vasari’s promotion of the history of Florentine art extended beyond the page and onto the interior walls of the Medici palaces. Vasari not only wrote about and made art, but he also became the chief curator for the collections of his patron Cosimo I de’ Medici. Vasari’s work as a curator established a model for the physical organisation and display of art that gave birth to the modern concept of ‘the museum’. Vasari’s idea of the chronological progression of art went on to influence the galleries of Europe after his death and on into the 1700s and 1800s.
After the break, we will switch our attention to the National Gallery Collection, identifying works actually seen and described by Vasari when they were still in Italy. We will also explore the extraordinary influence his idea of the ‘schools’ of art had on the Gallery’s displays from the 1800s to the present
Truth is a slippery concept when it comes to Vasari’s 'Lives'. The legends he tells of artists have long divided Vasari’s critics, since a lot of what he says is not ‘true’. Nowadays, these stories are seen as central to the text and full of deeper meaning. This week, we will explore the parts of Vasari’s book that have been disproved or ring false to find the cultural truths they contain. With his tall tales and artistic fables, Vasari lets us see into the values of his day regarding the Counter-Reformation, politics, power and patronage. We will pay close attention to the stories of Cimabue, Fra Angelico, Piero di Cosimo, Leonardo and Raphael.
An enduring motif of Vasari’s 'Lives' is the moral weighing up of artists into two camps: the hard-working, and the negligent. Vasari’s text is rife with delightful portraits of villains, eccentrics, misers, misanthropes and even a murderer. This week’s session will focus on the entertaining misadventures of these artists, contrasting their personal conduct with Vasari’s exemplary professionals who complete commissions and embody the religious ideals shown in their works. Reward and renown, or relegation into obscurity? We will see how Vasari passes judgement on artists including Fra Filippo Lippi, Donatello, Perugino, Andrea del Castagno and Domenico Veneziano.
Vasari: ‘The Lives’ and afterlives of artists
Vasari’s Lives underwent a significant revival on both sides of the English Channel during the 19th century. At the French Salon, artists showed pictures illustrating scenes from Vasari’s tales – Giotto discovered sketching sheep by his master Cimabue; Raphael and his lover; or the death of Leonardo. The first English translation of Vasari’s Lives appeared in 1850, while Vasari’s legends of Fra Filippo Lippi, Raphael and Andrea del Sarto provided inspiration for Robert Browning’s ‘painter-poems’. In this final part of the course, we will examine Vasari’s lasting legacy from the Romantics to the present day. We will explore the Anglo-American community in Florence c.1850-1920; the ‘life and work’ motif in the twentieth century; and Vasari’s impact on the discipline of Art History.
Your tutor
Dr Jenny Graham is an Associate Professor in Art History at the University of Plymouth and an expert in Renaissance studies. She has lectured widely on classicism in the Renaissance, with a particular focus on Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (1568), and on how the Italian past was revived by the Pre-Raphaelites and other movements. Her publications include a chapter in the Cambridge Companion to the Pre-Raphaelites (2012) and others since then on John Ruskin and Giorgio Vasari, and the cult of Fra Filippo Lippi in the nineteenth century. Jenny brings a lively teaching style to this series on one of her favourite research areas – storytelling.
Watch again
Can't make Wednesday afternoons but don't want to miss out? No problem, you can watch again.
Each session is recorded and made available to you for the duration of the course, up until 2 weeks after the final session.
A video of the week's lecture will be uploaded and available for you to watch via your National Gallery account on Friday afternoons, in time for the weekend
Format
Each session lasts for 2 hours and includes a lecture delivered by the course lecturer followed by a short break and further discussion.
Time will be allowed for questions and discussion via Q&A.
Handouts will be available via your National Gallery account on Monday mornings.
Optional homework is provided to help you prepare for the following week's session.
Booking information
This is an online ticketed course hosted on Zoom. Please book a ticket to access the course. Only one ticket can be booked per account.
You will be emailed an E-ticket with instructions on how to access the course via your National Gallery account. All course information including your Zoom link, weekly handouts, and recordings will be available here.
Your link will be valid for the duration of the course.
Booking after the course has started
You are welcome to join the module at any point during its five-week run. You will gain access to all the recordings until two weeks after the final session.