The Lives of the Artists
by Giorgio Vasari (translated by George Bull) · Giorgio Vasari
Vasari's sixteenth-century biographies of Italian painters, sculptors and architects from Cimabue and Giotto to Leonardo and Michelangelo, in George Bull's Penguin selection. Readers see how the Renaissance described its own artistic progress and meet the primary source behind most later art history.
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More resources on Renaissance Art
Web Gallery of Art
Searchable virtual museum of European painting, sculpture, decorative arts and architecture from the 3rd to 19th centuries, with over 52,000 reproductions. Artist biographies, per-work commentaries and guided tours let learners study Renaissance masters work by work and in historical context.
Art History Basics
Explore Renaissance art with this free course from Khan Academy! Learn about key artists, techniques, and the historical context.
uffizi.it/en
Official site of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, featuring its Renaissance-era collections with high-quality images and detailed artwork descriptions. It also offers artist biographies, virtual tours, current and past exhibitions, visitor information, and educational resources for study.
Leonardo
A short study by Oxford art historian Martin Kemp tracing how Leonardo's painting, anatomy, optics and engineering grew from a single method of visual investigation. Readers come away able to connect his notebooks to finished works such as the Last Supper and Mona Lisa.