For your first Discussion Board Research Topic, you will be imagining that you have discovered an unknown, previously lost chapter from Giorgio
Vasari’s Lives of the Artists . As discussed in this unit, Vasari wrote a multi-volume book containing brief biographies of Renaissance artists,
published in 1550, with an expanded second edition published in 1568. You will be presenting the “lost biography” as a writing in the vein of
Vasari’s biographies about the unknown artist.
To complete this Unit One Research Topic, do the following:
Review the examples of Vasari’s biographies linked to in the lesson file and take note of how Vasari writes about Renaissance artists. Consider
how he discusses and describes their work, their training, what makes them unique, their patrons, and how he places them within a context of
importance to history and the style of his own age. Moreover, note how with certain artists Vasari creates laudatory, almost “legend” type
stories to explain their importance and accomplishments. If you wish to read further examples not linked to in the lesson file, you can read
translations of all of Vasari’s biographies (mostly complete) on the following site: http://www.efn.org/~acd/vite/VasariLives.html#part1
Next, conceive of a Renaissance artist whose life has been described in this lost Vasari chapter you have uncovered. NOTE: This is NOT a real
Renaissance artist, but one you have invented. Think about your artist’s training, type of work, specialties with style, method, or iconography
that made the artist well known, and any patron or patrons for whom the artist may have worked. Despite being invented by you, the way you
conceive of your artist should conform and be based on what you learned in this unit regarding Renaissance art and artists.
Now, research online and find a REAL example of a Renaissance work of art that will be the visual example of a work described in your lost
chapter. This MUST be a real work of Renaissance art, made in the time period and geographic region (Italy) discussed in this unit, although it
is okay to ignore who the real artist of the work is to assign it to your fictional artist in your biography, and should correlate with how you
conceived of your artist (for example, if you write about your artists’ fame as a portraitist, then it would make the most sense to include a
portrait rather than a religious fresco). NOTE: You may NOT use any works of art discussed in this unit.
Finally, based on how you conceived of your artist, write a two-to-three page ” biography” of your artist as the lost Vasari chapter itself. You
are NOT expected to conform exactly to Vasari’s writing style, but how you structure your “life” of your artist should be modeled on Vasari’s
writings. Be sure to discuss the life of your artist, any training (and with whom), any other important connections or patrons, and within your
life, describe the work of art you chose as an example and relate it to your artist’s life. Be sure to either attach your image or link to it
online!
Once completed, paste your text and link directly into the Unit One Discussion Board area and upload it before the deadline. After this
deadline, this discussion board will close and be inaccessible, and posts will not be accepted for a grade and the student will earn a failing
grade for this assignment.
This Discussion Board Research Topic will be worth up to one hundred (100) points, and will be graded based on the following criteria:
-following all the steps and completing the assignment fully and correctly
-the thoroughness and completeness of your work in regards to the assignment instructions
-how correctly and logically you apply concepts, information, and terminology learned in this unit
-the clarity of thought in the writing and organization of the submission
-using proper spelling and grammar
NOTE: Students are strongly encouraged to prepare their posts in a separate word processor (such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs) to thoroughly
edit their posts before submitting them by copying-and-pasting them into the Discussion Board.
