Vasari, Giorgio

VASARI, Giorgio (1511-74). Le vite de' piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori. Florence: Giunta, 1568.
3 parts in 3 volumes, 4 o (Vol. I: 239 x 164 mm, Vol. II: 241 x 164 mm, Vol. III: 241 x 164 mm). Roman type, prefaces in italic. Woodcuts: architectural and figural title-borders composed of two blocks, incorporating Medici arms at top and with inset vignette view of Florence at bottom, allegorical woodcut on verso of part 1 title, showing the awakening of the souls of dead artists, set within the inner border block with a legend in the cartouche, repeated at the end of part 3 (6H3v), medallion portrait of Vasari on B4v set within the same inner border block with Florence view in cartouche, the portrait repeated on 6D1v, 144 medallion portraits of artists, set within 6 different borders of female figures representing the arts (copied from frescoes in the Casa Vasari at Arezzo), 8 borders with portrait spaces left blank, woodcut printer's devices at ends of vols. 2 and 3, woodcut initials, typographic ornaments. With the stamped last line on K4v (vol. 1), with the Ms. correcti
Provenance: Girolamo Perelli (signature on title-page vol. 1 dated 1746) -- Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919) connoisseur, painter, art advisor and dealer, sold to: -- Edward W. Forbes (1905 signature and ownership inscription "purchased from C[harles] F[airfax] M[urray]" on front flyleaf) -- Acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1972.
Second edition, and THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED AND FIRST COMPLETE EDITION of Vasari's monumental collection of biographies of the principal Italian artists and architects of the Renaissance--the word "Renaissance" was coined by him--including the then still under-appreciated Cimabue and Giotto. This second edition, published 18 years after the first, bears a new dedication to Cosimo de' Medici, and is greatly expanded, adding biographies of 28 more recent artists, including Titian, an autobiography and a treatise on artistic techniques. The exceptionally expressive woodcut portraits were designed by Vasari and cut by various wood engravers including a "Maestro Christofano," either Cristoforo Coriolano or Cristoforo Chrieger. Although some of his histories contain apocryphal anecdotes, Vasari's work, called "the first modern history of art" (PMM), remains the foremost authority on the artists of one of the most fertile periods in the history of western art. Although the volumes vary slightly