Wingfield Digby, G F & Hefford, W., The tapestry collection: medieval and renaissance (London: H.M.S.O., 1980), pp.70-71, pl. 96 Campbell, Thomas P., Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2002), p. 503 King, Donald, Collected Textile Studies, ed. A. Muthesius and M. King (London: The Pindar Press, 2005), pp. 268-307, fig. 13 Baroni Vannucci, Alessandra. Jan Van Der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano: flandrus pictor et inventor. Rome and Milan: Jandi Sapi Editori, 1997. ISBN 8871420381 Gaeta Bertelà, G. Entry 'L'età virile dell'uomo', in Firenze e la Toscana dei Medici nell'Europa del Cinquecento. Palazzo Vecchio: committenza e collezionismo medicei [exhibition catalogue]. Milan: Electa / Florence: Centro Di Edizioni Alinari Scala, 1980. Donald King, Magic in the Web,in Hali, No. 107 (Nov/Dec 1999), pp. 70-85, p. 76, 80 (fig. 15). 'A few years ago the V&A purchased a tapestry on the London art market about which little was knonw, other than it was obvoulsy an Italian Mannerist design of some distinction and a bargain at a very modest price. The museum's tapestry specialist, Wendy Hefford, soon discovered detailed documentation. It was one of a set of allegorical tapestries depicting the Life of Man, woven as part of the refurbishment of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence for Duke Cosimo I Medici; they were to hang in the Duke's winter dining-room. The initial designs were drawn by Giorgio Vasari in 1560, the working cartoons were painted by Giovanni Stradano, and the tapestries were woven by the Florentine workshop of Benedetto Squilli from 1562 onwards. This piece shows Man conducted by personifications of Faith and Innocence towards a mountain where Religion and Piety wait to receive him and lead him up to Heaven; the borders are particularly handsome.'