“Drawing is the necessary beginning of everything [in art],” said the artist, architect, and author Giorgio Vasari, “and not having it, one has nothing.” In 1528, at a young age, Vasari began collecting drawings by Italian artists who worked from the 14th to the late–16th century; among them were Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, and Andrea del Verrocchio. The works served as Vasari’s study materials and accompanied biographical texts in Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists, which became the foundation of modern art history. After Vasari died in 1528, the collection was gifted to Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and its contents filtered into personal and public collections around the world. The exhibition is based on the latest research from art historians and collectors, with the aim of revisiting a period that marked a turning point in European art history.
—Nyla Gilstrap