Vasari. Il Teatro delle Virtù

edited by Cristina Acidini, technical and scientific coordination by Alessandra Baroni

exhibition catalogue:
Arezzo, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea and Sala Sant’Ignazio
30 October 2024-2 febbraio 2025

Vasari. The Theater of Virtues is an invitation to follow and understand the intricate path of the cultured and eclectic Aretine master’s work.
Among the celebrations taking place this year in his honour the exhibition project – located in two prestigious venues in the heart of Arezzo and divided into eight thematic sections – and the accompanying catalogue stand out, in fact, in a new strand of interpretation, aimed at re-examining the complex visual and allegorical apparatus.
For long time, the subtle quotes and symbolic power that permeate Vasari’s creations have long been perceived as a scholarly encumbrance, dictated more by celebratory intentions than by hidden and meaningful meanings.
Today, however, critics and art historians have brought to light both Vasari’s visible and invisible ‘worlds’.
Within these ‘worlds’, the Virtues – hence the title – are protagonists and one of the pivotal concepts. Virtues understood both as values that guided the artist’s personal conduct and as inspiring principles of his art.
Thanks to the admirable work of the scientific committee – which has selected and sourced paintings, art objects, drawings, documents and rare publications in Italy and abroad – viewers and readers are introduced to the parallel universe that lies within and beyond Giorgio Vasari and that, although distant, is close to the virtual realities of today’s society.