Vincent Cronin was educated at Ampleforth College, Harvard University, and Trinity College, Oxford, from which he graduated with honours in 1947. In addition to being a recipient of a W.H. Heinemann Award (1955) and a Rockefeller Foundation Award (1958), Cronin is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His works have been widely translated into European languages.

"This is probably the best book that has ever been written in the Renaissance and probably the most readable... Mr Cronin's fluent pen and his delight in the subject turn the whole account into something of a love story." The Times Educational Supplement "One of the first books to recommend to someone who wishes to discover the Florentine Renaissance." The Times Literary Supplement "A fascinating story, eloquently told and packed with recondite material... a model history for the general reader." Spectator "With the selective skill of a great master painter who makes the most minute detail play its part in the whole composition, Vincent Cronin has, in this distinguished book, sifted for us the living spectacle of the quattrocento in the hub of Tuscany." Scotsman