Giorgio Vasari wrote Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects.
First published in 1550 and expanded in 1568, the book contains biographies of Italian artists from the medieval period through Vasari’s own time. It is commonly called Le Vite, or The Lives.
Vasari was also a painter, architect, and court official associated with the Medici in Florence. His book helped establish the influential idea of a Renaissance revival after what he viewed as a decline in classical artistic standards.
The biographies remain essential historical sources, but some stories are exaggerated or based on hearsay. Vasari also favored Florentine and Tuscan artists, so modern historians compare his judgments with documents and other evidence.