Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Florentine painter, architect, art collector and writer, is best known for his Vite de' più eccellenti architetti, pittori et scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri (Lives of the Most Excellent Architects, Painters and sculptors of Italy, from Cimabue to our present time) which was first published in 1550. By virtue of this text, Vasari was knows as the "first art historian" since Pliny the Elder. This volume provides an opportunity to study and understand the art, theory, and visual culture of Giorgio Vasari and sixteenth century Italy. For the first time all of Vasari's Prefaces from the Lives of the Artists (1568) are included in the original Italian and in English translation. Through the eyes of Vasari, this book captures the creative achievements of his fellow artists--how they adopt nature and the classical tradition as their muses and how they ingeniously interpret the secular and religious themes of the past and present.