“… mi posi all’orefice. Omaggio a Vasari”

In 2024, on the 450th anniversary of the death of Giorgio Vasari, the city of Arezzo celebrated the great Aretine artist with a full year of exhibitions and events.

This anniversary provided the opportunity to propose a special edition of Orodautore, entirely dedicated to Vasari. The exhibition programme involved more than 25 artists and designers, with particular attention to authors from the local area, who were invited to design a jewel or ornament inspired by and dedicated to Vasari.

Special attention has been paid to those master goldsmiths who have agreed to execute particular aspects of their projects themselves – especially repoussé, chasing, engraving, textured surfaces, gilding, wax modelling, medal design and other innovative techniques – to give life to workshop-based educational activities aimed chiefly at middle-school students who have not yet defined their educational and professional paths.

Numerous artists, designers and master goldsmiths have been invited to participate with a jewel or ornament: Marcello Aitiani, Carlo Badii, Gio Bini, Giuliano Censini, Claudia Chianucci, Francesco Conti, Cesare Del Brenna, Danilo Fabiani, Fabrizio Falcinelli, Franco Fedeli, Marino Ficola, Emanuele Giannetti, Arianna Orsato, Alessandro Pacini, Fabio Pannacci, Francesco Puletti, Luciano Radicati, Sandro Santarelli, Enzo Scatragli, Wang Yu, Alberto Zorzi.

Also noteworthy is the contribution of several companies from the territory: Giordini, Graziella, Giovanni Raspini, Semar and Unoaerre.

Giorgio Vasari was the first historian of art, founder of the Accademia fiorentina del disegno, architect and urban planner, draughtsman, painter, decorator and scenographerat the service of popes, dukes and grand dukes, princes, religious communities, nobles and bankers. Not everyone knows that he was also a goldsmith and jewellery designer.

In the Vite and in the Ricordanze, after losing the protection of the Medici and Cardinal Passerini following their expulsion from Florence in 1527, he notes that “mi posi all’orafo”. He therefore frequented goldsmiths’ workshops in Florence and Arezzo, learning their discipline and techniques – as can be seen in his meticulous representations of repoussé and chasing in masterpieces such as the Allegoria della Giustizia Farnese and the Convito per le nozze di Ester e Assuero.