The Author: Liana De Girolami Cheney, Professor of Art History, Chairperson of the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, is the author and editor of numerous books, including Botticelli's Neoplatonic Images (1983); The Paintings of the Casa Vasari (1985); Symbolism of Vanitas in the Arts, Literature and Music (1992); Readings in Italian Mannerism (1997); Self-Portraits by Women Painters (2000); Neoplatonism and the Arts (2002); Essays of Women Artists: The Most Excellent (2003); Neoplatonic Aesthetics: Music, Literature and the Visual Art (2004); and Giorgio Vasari, The Painter of the Vite: Essays on Sacred and Profane Paintings (2006). Her major articles include studies on Giorgio Vasari and Mannerist female painters such as Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Barbara Longhi. Her forthcoming books are Giorgio Vasari's Classical Art and Mythology and Giorgio Vasari's Prefaces: Theory and Practice.