Vasari was a Liar

It is interesting, in the context of my current interests, to be reminded (while watching Andrew Graham-Dixon's Travels with Vasari BBC4) of the fact that, in his Lives..., Vasari, the 'father of art history' (but arguably also of art criticism), embellished the truth in order to add intrigue to the stories he was telling. He invented affairs and murders (or at least attributed affairs and murders to artists who could not possibly have been involved due either to physical absence or even death prior to the event.

Vasari's Lives... is an awesome work in the literal sense, a labour of love, and a rich source of knowledge and understanding of the artists discussed. Yet, there is a storytelling element to Vasari's writing, which does not appear malicious - it seems almost naturally to be a part of his process, without devaluing Lives... as an historical text.

So it would appear that story-telling has been a part of art history (as it is surely a part of any historical record) right from the start.