"THE FIRST MODERN HISTORY OF ART"

VASARI, Giorgio. Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. London: George Bell and Sons, 1878-79. Five volumes. Small octavo, contemporary full white vellum, brown morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers. Housed together in a custom cloth slipcase. $3500.

Early edition of the first English translation of Vasari's groundbreaking history, handsomely bound.

"'The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects' is the first modern history of art. It has made Vasari's name immortal… His book contains the biographies of Italian painters, etc., from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth century. They are based on earlier written and printed sources, on oral accounts, on his knowledge of works of art and his own large collection of drawings. Vasari travelled extensively to collect personal information, meeting most of the artists of his time. Though he took the conventional view of his day that the Middle Ages was a barren period between antiquity and Renaissance, he was in advance of his time in his admiration for Cimabue and Giotto. It was the Florentine school, however, which he considered preeminent, and Michelangelo was his great hero… Vasari's excellent sense of narrative… and lively style combined with his wide personal acquaintance makes his 'Lives' a vital contribution to our understanding of the character and psychology of the great artists of the Renaissance, a term (rinascita) which he was the first writer to use… It became a model for subsequent writings on the history of art" (PMM). First published in 1550; this first English translation, by Mrs. Jonathan Foster, was first published in 1850. With frontispiece portrait of Vasari in Volume I. With the initials "G.R." in gilt on the front boards.

Volume I with expert cleaning to frontispiece and portrait, remnants of stain to top edge of text block of Volume I expertly restored. Vellum binding with minimal wear. A lovely copy.