Discorsi di Monsignore don Vincenzio Borghini, Vincenzo Borghini

Exhibition Label: "Giorgio Vasari and Court Culture in Late Renaissance Italy," Sep-2012, Sally Cornelison and Susan Earle Borghini’s Discorsi (Discourses) covers a variety of subjects including the history and origins of Florence, nearby Fiesole, the region of Tuscany, and the Roman, Latin, and military roots of Florence. In volume two, Borghini provides thorough descriptions of Florentine money, the coats of arms of Florentine families, and the Florentine churches and bishops. The level of detail that Borghini provides in these discourses reflects his patient, precise, and thorough research style, the effects of which can be found in Vasari’s Lives. Like Vasari’s Ragionamenti, the Discorsi was published posthumously. On display is a portrait of Borghini (volume 1), as well as an illustration of the baptistery in Florence (volume 2), the same building Vasari decorated for the Medici baptism of 1568. The illustration is part of a series of four such fold-out images, an expensive and rare device in books of the period that further demonstrates the high regard in which Borghini’s work was held.