Jewels of the Renaissance

Yvonne Hackenbroch (1912–2012) was born in Frankfurt, Germany; she studied art history at the University of Munich, earning a doctorate in 1936. During and after the war she worked partly at the British Museum, and was part of the team that catalogued the Sutton Hoo treasure. In 1949 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York invited her to become a curator specializing in Renaissance art. Her book Renaissance Jewellery , published in 1979, is considered the seminal work on the subject, extending her worldwide reputation as the leading expert in this field.

Gonzague Saint Bris is a French writer, historian, journalist, and radio and television broadcaster who resides in his family château, Clos Lucé at Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci lived and died. Creator of events such as the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival in Normandy and the Forest of Books, a literature festival in the Loire Valley, Saint Bris has been awarded Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and Commander of Arts and Letters. His recent books include Louis XIV et le grand siècle (2012), François Ier et la Renaissance (2008), and Sur les pas de Léonard de Vinci (2006).