La storia dell’arte immaginaria: Vasari, le Vite e il Libro dei Disegni

Abstract · The history of imaginary art: Vasari, the Lives and the Book of Drawings · Vasari’s graphic collection, known as the Book of Drawings (Libro dei Disegni), plays a significant role in the second edition of the Lives. Vasari believed that a systematic reference to his collection could enrich the text, allowing readers to visualize the art history it narrates. There was never an actual plan for an illustrated edition of the Lives, meaning an edition enhanced by a printed translation of the drawings from the collection. Nonetheless, the repeated references to the Book of Drawings in the Lives suggested to readers that Vasari’s judgments about the artists were based on direct knowledge of their works. The essay also aims to show that this relationship between the Book of Drawings and the Lives was refined by Vasari between 1564 and 1566, which was a crucial stage in the writing and printing of the book. However, a decrease in references to the collection in the later parts of the Lives indicates that Vasari’s interest in the Book of Drawings as the ideal illustrated counterpart to the book, composed of autograph works, gradually diminished in the concluding sections, where his focus shifted to verbal descriptions of large collective works.