Peruzzi dalla Torrentiniana alla Giuntina: modifica di un ritratto

Giorgio Vasari wrote two biographies of Baldassarre Peruzzi, in the Torrentiniana (1550) and in the Giuntina (1568) editions of his Vite, and this essay aims to compare them. When Vasari wrote the first biography, he knew Peruzzi only by the pictures and the architectures that the Sienese had left in Roma, Perugia and Siena and by one written source: the Serlio’s “Seven Books of Architecture”. On the contrary, the second version is more accurate, with much information given to the biographer by the painter Francesco da Siena. Unfortunately Vasari did not always put those new data in the correct order and this article wants to focus on some crucial points of his text, such as the “Saint George’s Palace” for the cardinal “Raffaele Riario bishop of Ostia”, in my opinion sometimes misunderstood by the modern studies. However, apart few passages, the Life of Peruzzi written by Vasari is still a fundamental source to understand the career of the Sienese: the biographer showed admiration for Peruzzi, praising his creativity and his skills as inventor. It is interesting to notice that in the first edition Baldassarre was seen as “nobile artifice” (noble creator), a man free in his artistic decisions, whereas in the 1568 he was lightly criticized for his “dappocaggine” and naivety. In order to explain this change of opinion from the first to the second edition of the Vite, we should remember that in the meantime Giorgio Vasari had established his artistic position in the court of Cosimo de’Medici. He could not approve those artists who wasted their talent in different activities and in too many interests rather than used it in order to serve princes and lords.