A complete set of Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari. Three fabric hardcover volumes in original slip case. Published by The Folio Society London in 1993. Translated by George Bull. Giorgio Vasari, 1511 to 1574, was an Italian Renaissance artist and historian who is best known for his work The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. The book, first published in 1550, is considered to be the ideological foundation of all art-historical writing and the basis for biographies of several Renaissance artists, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Antiquarian Librarian Books Catalogs Albums For Collectors.