Foundations of a modern discipline 21by the Warburg Institute researchers Ernst Kris and Otto
Kurz.^14 The book rose to widespread prominence following
its translation into English at the end of the 1970s, and
offered a way to understand the two-millennia-old literary
and rhetorical traditions to which Vasari attended. Kris and
Kurz observe that, according to a number of distinct tradi-
tions, the artist is often self-educated, copying nature (carving
into wood, marking images out in the dirt) while tending
livestock (which the artist represents in drawing, imitating
nature). The artist is recognized by someone important
(another artist, or a nobleman) who can appreciate his skills.
These are then cultivated through apprenticeship until they
can practise their art independently of the tutors who helped
to craft their genius. In Vasari, for example, Raphael serves
this role for Giulio Romano. Their cultivation might equally
come from a structured independence that allows the artist
to make their own way. Vasari presented Lorenzo il Mag-
nifi co in this light in his account of the life of Michelangelo.
4 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), portrait of Giulio Romano, c.1536.