Vasari and the Sacred Image : Renovating Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo

Based upon a rich and previously underexplored body of source material, this book examines works Giorgio Vasari either thoughtfully designed for the Pieve. It expands our understanding of painting in Counter-Reformation Italy and the artistic production of one of the most important personalities of the Italian Renaissance.

Vasari and the Sacred Image explores the iconography, patronage, function, meaning, and afterlife of Giorgio Vasari's paintings for, and architectural modification of, one of the most important churches in his hometown of Arezzo. Based upon a rich and previously underexplored body of primary, secondary, and visual source material, this book examines works Vasari either thoughtfully designed for the Pieve, or resourcefully retrofitted from previous commissions, thereby promoting himself and his family, his patrons and associates, his artistic predecessors, and public and private devotions to local saints and their relics. Cornelison delves deeply into the history and iconography of key altarpieces, relating them to the broader issues of religious tradition and personal and artistic commemoration. She demonstrates that Vasari strove to create a cohesive sacred environment at the Pieve that was every bit as much steeped in Aretine sacred and visual tradition as it was in a climate of ecclesiastical reform.