The (Italian for Book of Drawings) was a collection of drawings gathered, sorted, and grouped by Giorgio Vasari whilst writing his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. By the time of his death in 1574 it is thought to have contained around 526 drawings, of which 162 are now in the Louvre and 83 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.Per Bjurstrom, Italian Drawings from the Collection of Giorgio Vasari (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 2001) There are also drawings from the in the prints and drawings departments of the Uffizi, the British Museum, the Albertina, the National Gallery of Art and other institutions.
Origins and dispersal Some art historians believe they were gathered to illustrate Vasari's Lives directly, as a visual index of the artists' works, whilst others believe it was a separate document in its own right. In his preface to the Lives, Vasari described his reasons for writing:
No text reveals why Vasari compiled his collection of drawings, but it was probably to illustrate the styles of the different artists he wrote about and to show how he had divided them "into three parts, or rather let us call them periods, between the rebirth of the arts and our own time - each of these is distinguished from the others by manifest differences". The earliest drawing in the collection was by Cimabue and the latest dated to Vasari's own time. In the 1550 and 1568 editions of the Lives Vasari insisted on drawings as documents which allowed the viewer to perceive the maniera of the great masters of painting and mentioned when he owned one or two drawings by a particular artist, such as at the end of his life of Filippo Lippi: ("Fra Filippo drew very well, as one can see in my own of the most famous painters, in the preparatory drawings for the altarpiece at Santo Spirito and the frescoes in the Prato chapel.") and in his life of Sandro Botticelli ("Sandro's drawings were of a totally unique excellence; and, after his death, more and more artists have been keen to have some of his drawings; and I myself, in my collection, have a few which were done with great care and judgement").
Giorgio Vasari was one of the founders of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno set up in Florence by Cosimo I of Tuscany in 1563. He and the other founders wished to use this academy to promote artists above the status of artisans.K. Barzman, The Florentine Accademia del Disegno : Liberal Education and the Renaissance Artist, p. 14-32, in A. Boschloo ed., Academies of Art Between Renaissance and Romanticism, Leid Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 1997Liana de Girolami Cheney, The Homes of Giorgio Vasari, , Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2006 (sample) He was also a passionate collector of drawings and in his he set them in his own paper frames and gathered drawings by one or more painters on a single sheet. In 1528 he received a collection of Lorenzo Ghiberti's drawings, as one of Ghiberti's descendants.Liana de Girolami Cheney, Giorgio Vasari's Teachers : Sacred & Profane Art, p.250, note 10, Peter Lang Publishing, New York, 2007 (read online)
After Vasari's death, the sheets of the were initially bought in 1574 by the Florentine collector Niccolò Gaddi (1537-1591). Vanna Arrighi, Niccolò Gaddi, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani They were then sold by Gaddi's heirs before 18 May 1638, the date of death of Lorenzo Sabbatini, who had been put in charge of the . They were then dispersed among the Medici, Arundel, Quesnel, Crozat and Mariette collections during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Collections European collections Albertina Albertina, Vienna Artist Subject InventoryNumber AcquiredfromOnline Bezzi Giovanni Francesco Standing male figure 2000Teschen 1822 Entry Carpaccio Vittore Study of three standing menThe "Cavaliere della Scalza" seen from behind, with a young boy in profile .1456r1456v.Teschen 1822Teschen 1822 EntryEntry. Garbo Raffaellino Studies of handsProfile of a young woman. 485817620.Teschen 1822Teschen 1822 EntryEntry. Ghirlandaio Davide Standing draped man 39Teschen 1822 Entry Ghirlandaio Domenico Christ blessing, surrounded by angels 511Teschen 1822 Entry Granacci Francesco Study of heads 14179Teschen 1822 Entry Liberale da Verona Two studies of women 17617Teschen 1822 Entry Lippi Filippo Kneeling angel 41Teschen 2623 Entry Mazzola Francesco Self portrait in an ornamental frame 33Teschen 2623 Entry Orsi Lelio Jesus in the Temple 581Teschen 2623 Entry Porta Bartolomeo della Two studies of a standing man 4875Teschen 1822 Entry Primaticcio Francesco Self-portrait as an old man 1965Teschen 1822 Entry Ramenghi Giovanni Battista Mystic Marriage of St Catherine 2006Teschen 1822 Entry Uccello Paolo Portrait of Leonardo Bruni in profile 46Teschen 1822 Entry Vasari Lazzaro Two men dressed in eastern costume 33Teschen 1822 Entry Vinci Leonardo da Study of heads 14179Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century A bishop 13128Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century Study of a nude young man seen from behind 12rTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century Tomb of pope Sixtus IV 21Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century Two standing men 22rTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century Two standing men 22vTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century One man seated, one man kneeling 23rTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 15th century One man seated, one man kneeling 23vTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Florentine painter, 15th century The Mocking of Christ 20Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Florentine painter, 15th century Old monk in profile, possibly Savonarola 61 rTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Florentine painter, 16th century Study of angels 61 vTeschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Siennese painter, 16th century Head of a young girl 2790Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Tuscan painter, 16th century Brother Andrea de Servi in profile, wearing a hood 28Teschen 1822 EntryAnonymous Tuscan painter, 16th century Tonsured monk in profile 29Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Tuscan painter, 16th century Portrait of prior Michel Berteldi in profile30Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Tuscan painter, 16th century Poet wearing a laurel wreath 31Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 16th century Jupiter embracing Callisto whilst disguised as Diana 514Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 16th century Jupiter embracing Antiope whilst disguised as a satyr 515Teschen 1822 Entry Anonymous Italian painter, 16th century Male pilgrim in a hood 25Teschen 1822 Entry
British Museum
British Museum Artist Subject Inventorynumber AcquiredfromOnline Carpaccio Vittore Nude couple with demons; self-portrait. 1895,0915.807John Wingfield Malcolm 1895 Entry Garbo Raffaellino del Studies of handsStudy for a Resurrection. Pp,1.14Pp,1.32. Richard Payne Knight 1824Richard Payne Knight 1824 EntryEntry. School of Gozzoli Benozzo Two saints 1882,0812.218Henry Hobhouse 1882 Entry School of Lippi Filippino Nude man holding a bowOne man seated, one man standing, possibly for a St Sebastian. Pp,1.4Pp,1.15.Richard Payne Knight 1824Richard Payne Knight 1824 Entry Entry. Perugino Pietro Head of an old man Pp,1.28Richard Payne Knight 1824 Entry Santacroce Girolamo da Saints Roch, Christopher and Sebastian 1900,0717.32Colnaghi 1900 Entry Sciarpelloni Lorenzo Virgin Adoring the Christ Child Pp,1.30Richard Payne Knight 1824 Entry Tibaldi Pellegrino Seated sibyl Pp,2.187Richard Payne Knight 1824 Entry Anonymous Florentine artist, 15th century Animals 1935,1214.2.1 Colnaghi 1935 Entry
Ecole des Beaux Arts Ecole des Beaux Arts Artist Subject Inventorynumber Acquiredfrom OnlineAnonymous Italian painter, c.1370Life of saint PotitusAnna Forlani Tempesti, 'Giorgio Vasari e il Libro dei disegni. Museo cartaceo o Galleria portatile', in Maia Wellington Gahtan (ed.), Giorgio Vasari e la nascita del museo, Firenze, Edifir, 2012, pp. 35-49, SBN IT\ICCU\LIA\0958850.Recto + Verso
Louvre The first drawings from the to enter the French national collection were bought by Everhard Jabach, probably when the Arundel collections were sold in 1646 and 1654 after his and his widow's deaths.Catherine Monbeig-Goguel, Collections de Louis XIV, dessins, albums, manuscrits, They then passed from Jabach into Louis XIV's drawings collection in 1671. Further sheets from the were added when the French royal collection bought part of the collection of Mariette in 1755 and when Saint-Morys's collection was seized by the revolutionary government in 1793. These later additions may have originated in the sale of the Crozat collection, for which a catalogue survives. Part of the Mariette collection was sold to the royal collection in 1775. Other pages entered the French national collection from émigré goods seized by the revolutionary government and via gift and purchase.