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The Lives of the Artists (Bellori)
Book by Gian Pietro Bellori / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lives of the Modern Painters, Sculptors, and Architects or Le vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni is a series of artist biographies written by Gian Pietro Bellori (1613–96), whom Julius von Schlosser called "the most important historiographer of art not only of Rome, but all Italy, even of Europe, in the seventeenth century".[1] It is one of the foundational texts of the history and criticism of European art.[2]
![]() Cover to the 1672 edition. | |
Author | Gian Pietro Bellori |
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Original title | Le vite de' pittori, scultori et architetti moderni |
Language | Italian |
Subject | Artist biographies |
Publisher | Mascardi, Rome (1672) |
Publication date | 1672, 1728 |
Publication place | Italy |
Published in English | 2005 (in full) |
The first edition (1672) contained biographies of nine painters (Annibale and Agostino Carracci, Barocci, Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and Poussin), two sculptors (François Duquesnoy and Alessandro Algardi), and one architect (Domenico Fontana). The book was dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Colbert and published with French financial support.[3]