Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists (1568)

Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists (1568), various editions, Prefaces
You might draw on Vasari’s account on Michelangelo as an example.
Questions to answer:
Beginning with Vasari’s introductions to the three parts of The Lives of the Artists we shall explore the following:
– What are the positive and negative aspects of a biographical method?
– How did Vasari conceive of the history of art? What kind of structure did he envisage for the development of art?
We shall then focus on Vasari’s lengthy text on Michelangelo:
Vasari on Michelangelo: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth213/michelangelo_vasari.html
– How do you know that Vasari valued Michelangelo’s work highly? Identify key points and the language he used.