‘Grandemente inclinato all’Arte del Disegno’

Filippo Baldinucci (1625–1696) wrote a detailed and compelling biography of Bernardino Barbatelli (called Poccetti, 1553–1612). This chapter situates Baldinucci and his work within contemporary discussions of art writing and its traditions, even as it reads the biography of Poccetti critically to understand the mechanics of Baldinucci’s historical project. Baldinucci used longstanding tropes from art historical writing as well as more ‘modern’ approaches to history (archival research, interviews) and in Poccetti’s biography these methods paint a detailed picture of the man, his personality, and his working habits. In addition, elements of Poccetti’s biography serve Baldinucci’s aim of elevating the Tuscan school of painting and updating Giorgio Vasari’s collection of artists’ lives.