'Art', declared Vasari in Lives of the Artists, has been reborn and reached perfection in our time'. Indeed the roster of great names in painting of the Cinquecento, which only begins with those of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, appears to justify this grand claim. Professor Freedberg here discusses the individual painters and analyses the hallmarks of their work. He traces the classical style of the High Renaissance, the Mannerism that succeeded it, and the events, in North Italy especially, that resist stylistic categories. He has given order to this diversity, but at the same time has preserved the intense individuality of the works of art.

The Court Cities of Northern Italy examines painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and architecture produced within the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries.

Dolce's Dialogo della pittura first appeared in Venice in 1557 and consists of a three-part dialogue between two Venetians, Aretino and Fabrini, on the particular merits of works of art and artists, including Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello.

The new edition of this guide to Italian Renaissance art includes extended coverage of the Quattrocento and Cinquecento in Florence, Rome and Venice, as well as additional works by north Italian artists and Florentine Mannerists. David Wilkins' revisions follow Hartt's vision and approach, while drawing on new research to bring the text up to date. New colour plates include details of the freshly cleaned Sistine Chapel ceiling, and other works rephotographed after cleaning or restoration.