Interpreting Vasari is key to understanding the Renaissance, and Cast ... is an able editor for this Anglophone collection of essays ... this volume is blessed with actual footnotes and an ample bibliography. Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. Choice 'David Cast ably introduces the multi-talented Vasari, fully setting the stage for the sixteen essays that follow analyzing individual biographies or Vasaris account of a citys artistic production. Other essays deal with more general topics like the issue of Vasaris collaborators in writing the Lives or Vasari as an artist, designer and collector, or aesthetic terminology in the Lives. The span is comprehensive and yet comprised of specialized essays that primarily focus on Vasari as a writer, a choice that makes sense as the biographies are his major legacy. Like Cast, the essay writers are leading authorities in the field, making this an indispensable analysis of Vasaris contribution.' Sarah Blake McHam, Rutgers University, USA '...brings together an immensely wide-ranging, multi-faceted, and thought-provoking series of essays on a whole range of aspects of the Lives of the Artists. It is bound to prove essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the history of the history of Italian Renaissance art.' David Ekserdjian, University of Leicester, UK '... a rich, prismatic experience of Vasari as author and literato ... there are some true gems of contemporary scholarship to be found here.' Seventeenth-Century News 'A collection of deeply scholarly essays on a key figure in Renaissance studies and his legacy as art historian, artist and academician - the coal face of art history ... everyone interested in art scholarship should keep an eye on Ashgate publications.' Brian Sewell, London Evening Standard '[ A] varied and balanced account of recent Vasari scholarship, focusing on research produced by English-speaking scholars.' Burlington Magazine
