Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 1.djvu/9



writer has remarked that, “No man exhibits his own character so effectually as when engaged in pourtraying that of another.” The justice of this observation is not unfrequently exemplified in the Biographies written by Vasari; and how charming is the character of himself thus unconsciously revealed! It is always pleasant to find that an author who has obtained your attention, is deserving also of your esteem; a book may amuse, or may inform, but if it fail to command respect for the writer, how serious a drawback is this on the pleasure derived from it. To such disadvantage the reader of Vasari will not be exposed: for he cannot but esteem his author.

Three hundred years have now elapsed since our distinguished critic and biographer first enriched the world with the work before us; and from that time to the present his compatriots and admirers have continually employed themselves in writing Annotations, Commentaries, or Criticisms upon it. His statements are sometimes impugned, and his dates are not always strictly accurate; but he has never wanted able and zealous defenders. He may not have attained perfection, but in him later writers have generally found their best resources. On his book almost every subsequent