The debt we owe Vasari cannot be overstated. The essentials of what we know about Italian artists from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries derive from his monumental work. Despite inaccuracies and mistakes, despite his prejudices and often blind Florentine nationalism, despite an annoying tendency toward moralizing or hagiography and a definite penchant for legend, Vasari remains the first indispensable reference for anyone fascinated by the Italian Renaissance