Il disegno, il General Intellect e la città:

per una rilettura del Vasari

Abstract

Starting from a reinterpretation of 16th Century “teoriche” focusing on the notion of “disegno”, the article examines the use of this terms in Giorgio Vasari’s work. For the author of Le vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori (1550 and 1568), drawing (“disegno”) corresponds to a form of “cognitive-instrumental rationality” that does not answer to a declared aim, but that is nonetheless able to construct the «space that the rationalization of images of the world in the West opens up for a modernization of society» (Habermas, 1986). The comparison between the two editions of the Vite (Torrentini, 1550 and Giunti, 1568) shows a fundamental change in paradigm: in the first edition every artist acquires exemplary value as an individual; whereas in the second edition the distinctive trait lies not in individual artists but rather in Florentine artistic canon, intended as universal and objective. In this shift, disegno becomes an explicitly intellectual device that allows to transfer the qualities of individuals to a collective intellect.