Pensare lo spartimento: questioni vasariane di genesi della decorazione

Among the terms of particular significance in Giorgio Vasari’s writings is that of spartimento, mostly linked to the conception of decorative cycles. Although some scholars have already provided some insightful observations noting the considerable increase in occurrences in the second edition of the Lives, this contribution intends to measure how much theoretical depth the word spartimento was charged with, that is, to what extent Vasari conceived it not only as a descriptive tool, but as a fundamental aspect of disegno. From the outset of his career, Vasari was constantly faced with the challenge of decorative cycles that demanded a combination of skills, both as painter and as architect. The decorative projects carried out for the Compagnia della Calza in Venice in 1542 and for the General of the Olivetans Gian Matteo d’Aversa in Naples in 1544/45 constitute a double turning point towards a new and theorising interpretation of the term spartimento. Towards the end of the same decade, this concept reaches maturity and is shared by Vasari with his public through the first edition of the Lives: here, it not only refers to the decorative syntax of typically mannerist decorative cycles, but to the overall organisation of the decorative space, whether it is illusionistic or flat, figurative or aniconic. Furthermore, given this theoretical extension, the subtle but decisive impact of Leon Battista Alberti emerges in the way spartimento becomes part and parcel of Vasari’s intellectualising and unifying conception of disegno.