Nova, Alessandro

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REVIEWS 607
Sharon Gregory. Vasari and the Renaissance Print.
V'sual Culture in Early Modernity. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2012. xix + 
428 pp. $124.95. ISBN: 978-1-4094-2926-5.
Over the last eighteen years we have experienced a veritable renaissance of 
Vasari studies that have become increasingly sophisticated, culminating in the 
uiany initiatives, conferences, exhibitions, and publications related to the 500th 
anniversary of his birth (Vasari was baptized on 30 July 1511). These celebrations 
havc taken placc all over the world, from Arezzo to Florence and Paris, from 
Cambridge, Massachusetts to Brazil and Japan. Such an overwhelming and 
s°mehow unexpected success should not be misunderstood as a mere homage to
Originalveröffentlichung in: Renaissance quarterly 66 (2013), Nr. 2, S. 607-609 
608 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY
the first professional art historian on the anniversary of his birth, but as a new 
awareness of the theoretical relevance of his writings and all that implies. Indeed, 
this renewed attention goes well beyond the traditional investigation of his critical 
vocabulary (disegno, giudizio, grazia, etc.), and it embraces almost neglected themes, 
such as Vasari’s vision of history (not only of art history), his language, as well as his 
methodological innovations (in-depth analysis of specific works, connoisseurship, 
archival research, and oral history). To this group of issues belong also his scattered 
references to a history of the pictorial genres (portrait, landscape, still life) and his 
extremely articulated discussion of artistic techniques, above all in the second 
edition of his Lives.
Sharon Gregory’s beautiful book, which justly treats prints as works of art 
worthy of being illustrated with good quality plates, is part of this renaissance 
and investigates with great expertise the crucial topic of Vasari’s relationship with 
the printed image: indeed, the purpose of her monograph is to recognize and discuss 
in depth the important role played by graphic works in the elaboration of the first 
history of art ever written. Vasari was well aware of their power and potential, even 
for his own professional career. In her lucid introduction, the author herself offers 
a good overview of the structure of her text. Chapter 1 deals with Vasari’s first 
history of printmaking: as is well known, the artist added in the second edition 
(1568) of the Lives a long biography of Marcantonio Raimondi that was expanded 
into the first survey of the history of making prints; this collective Life was by no 
means the only evidence of Vasari’s interest in this medium, which acquired 
a higher status in the second edition. The main thesis of this chapter is that Vasari 
was very much concerned with the issue of quality in printmaking and that 
engravers played an important role in his narrative, at least as important as the role 
played by the designers of printed images. Chapter 2 is devoted to the illustrated 
book, “with reference to [Vasari’s] own designs for book illustrations” (63) as well as 
to the woodcuts in the Lives, which have “contributed to his programme to enhance 
the status of the artist” (63). Chapter 3 examines Vasari’s innovative use of printed 
images as sources for his historical writing. The artist travelled extensively ali over 
Italy and made extensive notes. Furthermore, he relied upon correspondents who 
could provide precious information about peripheral areas where he did not or 
could not travel. But this was not enough. Such a prolonged project as the writing 
of the Lives must have required images as memory aids, and this is where prints, 
together with his own drawings after the masters, became a crucial support. 
However, Gregory can smoothly demonstrate that Vasari, perhaps surprisingly. 
did not rely on them very much, and that in the main he used them as a 
supplement to his own memory” (133). Chapter 4 analyzes prints as tools to 
educate and train young artists. Although few drawings after prints actually survive, 
Gregory is convinced that the “imitation by draughtsmcn of the graphic technique 
of prints increased during the early Cinqueccnto, with artists responding first to 
German engravings and woodcuts, and then to new engraving style created by 
Marcantonio and Raphael” (3). If it is easy to demonstrate that Italian artists, 
famously including Michelangelo, made cxtensive use of Northern engravings f<,r
REVIEWS 609
their training and compositions, the stylistic argument of this chapter is the 
most questionable point in the book. This review is too short to allow for the full 
development of a counterargument, but the present writer is not convinced that 
“northern prints were initially used by artists in Florence who sought to expand 
their graphic vocabulary in ways that enlivened their drawing style but, more 
importantly, allowed for the convincing representation of three-dimensional form 
on a two-dimensional surface” (161-62). Chapter 5 deals with Vasari’s theory of 
imitation, suggesting that his assimilation of printed sources is closely linked with 
the theoretical premises sketched in his Lives. Finally, the author concludes her 
book with a chapter devoted to Vasari’s designs for prints which were made, like 
Raphael’s, as a mean to advertise his works in pursuit of fame.
This clearly written, well-researched, and intelligently structured book will 
remain a fundamental point of reference for all those interested in the history of 
printmaking as well as in Vasari’s fundamental contribution to art history.
Alessandro Nova
Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz


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