In 2011, I knew who Vasari was but was insufficiently appreciative of his importance in art. Consequently, we snapped a photo of his house and carried on. He was, as I now know, the first art historian, and it is to him that we owe much of our knowledge of Renaissance art and the contexts within which to understand it. He originated terms like "Renaissance" and "Gothic." Stuff like that. He was also an artist, a painter, an architect, and all-around Renaissance-type guy--not of the first order perhaps--but, hey, a 4 NT hand is not bad. This time we made the trip to Arezzo to see his house as much as the Piero di Francesca frescoes. Unlike many artists' houses, Vasari's was kept pretty much as it was in his time. The furniture is gone, but the art, as the artist himself cataloged it, remains.
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Where he parked his Alfa Romeo (too small
for the Ferrari) |
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| In the neighborhood |
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| Vasari himself was a Mannerist; knew Mr. Twisty personally |
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| In the room of the muses, Calliope |
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| Unusual vertical Last Supper, by Vasari himself |
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| Multi-color winged angel on unicycle |
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| Ambito Aretino's portrait of Vasari |
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| Allegory of Virtue, Fortune, and Envy |
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| Nice trompe l'oeil |
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| Not |
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| The garden |
