Giorgio Vasari's Prefaces: Art and Theory provides students and scholars alike with the opportunity to study and understand the art, theory, and visual culture of Giorgio Vasari and sixteenth century Italy. For the first time all of Vasari's Prefaces from the Lives of the Artists (1568) are included translated into English as well as in the original Italian. Also included is an English translation of Giovanni Battista Adriani's letter to Giorgio Vasari enlightening Vasari on the art of the ancient masters. Through the eyes of Vasari, this book captures the creative achievements of his fellow artists - how they adopt nature and the classical tradition as their muses and how they ingeniously interpret the secular and religious themes of the past and present. Vasari himself is lauded for the transformation of the artist from one of being a mere laborer to one who imbues his work with intellectual depth and is recognized as a creator of beautiful visual myths.

This book focuses on Sir Edward Burne-Jones' mythical paintings from 1868 to 1886. His artistic training and traveling experiences, his love for the Greek-sculptress, Maria Zambaco, and his aesthetic sensibility provided the background for these mythical paintings. This book analyzes two main concepts: Burne-Jones' assimilation of Neoplatonic ideal beauty as depicted in his solo and narrative paintings, and Burne-Jones' fusion of the classical and emblematic traditions in his imagery.

Giorgio Vasari was one of the few artists in the history of art who built, designed, and decorated his homes. This book is the first to focus on Vasari's decorative cycles for his homes in Arezzo and Florence, revealing the significance of the artistic, cultural, and historical milieu of the sixteenth century. This study breaks new ground in two ways: First, in a personal and original manner, the imagery is related to Vasari's artistic ideas on history painting and the role of the artist. And second, Vasari's imagery portrays visual galleries applauding his teachers, antiquity and the creation of art.

Neoplatonic Aesthetics: Music, Literature, and the Visual Arts explores the idea of a Neoplatonic aesthetic, a philosophy of the arts based on the writings of Plato and the Neoplatonists - principally Plotinus, Proclucs, Pseudo-Dionysius, Nicolas Cusanus, and Marsilio Ficino - and more contemporary philosophers - Stephen MacKenna, Iris Murdoch, Denman Ross, Jacques Derrida, and Hans Georg Gadamer. This book examines the artistic production of figures such as Gioseffe Zarlino, Fra Angelico, Leon Battista Alberti, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Giorgio Vasari, and it formulates theoretical approaches to contemporary production based in the Neoplatonic philosophies.

The essays in this book examine art historical manifestations observed in Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)'s paintings and writings, including his impact in the emblematic tradition. Vasari's conception of history painting evolves in the development of religious and secular decorative cycles in the sixteenth century. His classical education, his love for collecting art and his quest for artistic expression through disegno (drawing) reveal his humanistic culture. Vasari fuses the classical artistic, literary and philosophical traditions with Renaissance literary and visual conventions, thus formulating a practical and theoretical artistic language as well as an historical visual and emblematic repertoire of images with their signification. "Cheney postulates a unique notion on Vasari's conception of history painting, which evolves in the development of religious and secular decorative cycles in the sixteenth century.... This book will interest not only those who are initiating their study of Italian art, but in general, all those who are interested in Italian culture. In addition, it will be of value to scholars of art history." -Wolfram Prinz, Professor of Art History, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt am Main, and former President of the Classe Storia dell'Arte of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence.

Vasari's intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm, and artistic ability made it possible for him to put forth a new perspective on art which expresses a concern for success, a fascination for the antique, and a delight for virtuosity depicted in his religious and secular paintings. 192 pp.

The first survey of women's self-portraiture to be focused exclusively on painting, this book opens with an original attempt to reconstruct from original accounts the work of artists of antiquity such as Marcia, Timarete and Eirene. The authors then select self-portraits by a range of European and American painters up to the present day to narrate the stylistic development of women's self-representation in those parts of the world. The story of the self-portrait offers fascinating insights which deepen our understanding of these artists' working lives, priorities and preoccupations. With its chronological sweep, its lavish illustrations, including many works which have not been reproduced in print before, and its extensive bibliography, this book is an indispensable guide to a fascinating subject.