Da Simone Ciotti a Carlo Manolessi. Nuove considerazioni sulla fortuna seicentesca dei ritratti nelle Vite di Giorgio Vasari

The abundance of illustrated biographical volumes produced in the wake of Giovio’s model has given rise to numerous studies, including even recent developments regarding Vasari’s Lives, and concerning both their genesis and their reception, to some extent stimulated by the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the artist’s birth. Nonetheless, when discussing the editorial fortune of the Giuntina edition, some elements remain to be clarified, especially two rather neglected episodes in the history of the woodblocks for the artists’ portraits: the Effigie published by Simone Ciotti in Florence in 1629 and the Lives edited by Carlo Manolessi, published in Bologna in 1647, two complex publishing initiatives that are the specific subject of this contribution.