I would like to thank Malcolm Bull, Philip Cottrell and John Morrison for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of this book. The following also played an important role in helping me to write it: Gauvin Bailey, Neil Curtis, John Gash, Jane Geddes, Tessa and Eric Hadley, Charles Hope, Deborah Howard, Paul Hills, Peter Humfrey, John Morrison, Helen Pierce, Tatiana Sizonenko, and Madeline Ward. The panel on family values in Italian artistic workshops at the Association of Art Historians conference in London in 2008 helped me greatly in formulating the provisional ideas for the book. My co-organizer for that event, Louise Bourdua, subsequently invited me to teach a Summer School in Venice in 2010 and to lecture on Titian at Palazzo Papafava, events which were important milestones. The staff and librarians of the Centro Vittore Branca at the Fondazione Cini, the Biblioteca Marciana and the Archivio di Stato of Venice also provided specialist help and support. The staff of Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, gave kind assistance on my visit. I would also like to acknowledge The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation of New York, The British Academy, and The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, who provided essential financial support.