Lives of the Artists in the context of "Renaissance exploration"

⭐ In the context of Renaissance exploration, the term 'renaissance' itself, as initially used by Giorgio Vasari, is considered a reflection of which broader historical and cultural characteristic?

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⭐ Core Definition: Lives of the Artists

The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (Italian: Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori) is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the most-read work of the older literature of art", "some of the Italian Renaissance's most influential writing on art", and "the first important book on art history".

Vasari published The Lives in two editions with substantial differences between them; the first edition, two volumes, in 1550 and the second, three volumes, in 1568 (which is the one usually translated and referred to). One important change was the increased attention paid to Venetian art in the second edition, even though Vasari still was, and has ever since been, criticised for an excessive emphasis on the art of his native Florence.

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Lives of the Artists in the context of Renaissance

The Renaissance (UK: /rɪˈneɪsəns/ rin-AY-sənss, US: /ˈrɛnəsɑːns/ REN-ə-sahnss) is a period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity. Associated with great social change in most fields and disciplines, including art, architecture, politics, literature, exploration and science, the Renaissance was first centered in the Republic of Florence, then spread to the rest of Italy and later throughout Europe. The term rinascita ("rebirth") first appeared in Lives of the Artists (c. 1550) by Giorgio Vasari, while the corresponding French word renaissance was adopted into English as the term for this period during the 1830s.

The Renaissance's intellectual basis was founded in its version of humanism, derived from the concept of Roman humanitas and the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said that "man is the measure of all things". Although the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe: the first traces appear in Italy as early as the late 13th century, in particular with the writings of Dante and the paintings of Giotto.

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Lives of the Artists in the context of Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico, O.P. (/ˌfrɑː ænˈdʒɛlɪkoʊ/ FRAH an-JEL-ik-oh, Italian: [ˈfra anˈdʒɛːliko]; born Guido di Pietro; c. 1395 – 18 February 1455) was a Dominican friar and Italian Renaissance painter of the Early Renaissance, described by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent." He earned his reputation primarily for the series of frescoes he made for his own friary, San Marco, in Florence, then worked in Rome and other cities. All his known work is of religious subjects.

He was known to contemporaries as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole ("Friar John of Fiesole") and Fra Giovanni Angelico ("Angelic Brother John"). In modern Italian, he is called Beato Angelico ("Blessed Angelic One"); the common English name Fra Angelico means the "Angelic Friar."

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Renaissance ← Renaissance exploration ← Renaissance period ← Fra Angelico ← Renaissance Europe ← The Renaissance
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Italian language → Giorgio Vasari → Italian Renaissance → History of art → Florence →