作者是一名知名的艺术史学家，她使用来艺术世界里最具代表性的主角们带领读者进入艺术及收藏的世界。这是一个寻找品味在艺术和生活中的含义的旅程。

作者Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios的人生是一场大冒险，充满了一些20 世纪艺术界最重要的收藏家和古董家，都是作者在学生和学者的职业生涯中结识的人。他的一生中充满了认识更多艺术界的人，在书中呈现87个不同的肖像（包括他的自我肖像）。从Federico Zeri到Roberto Longhi，从Jean Paul Getty到Costantino Bulgari， 从Bernard Berenson到Alberto Arbasino，从Anna Banti到Mario Spagno，从Peggy Guggenheim到Liliane de Rothschild，从Anthony Blunt到Philip Pouncey，都在这本书中出现！作者在书中揭示了一个有自己的规则、残酷和惊喜的世界的后台区域，因为在这些非凡的、有时不方便的、痴迷的生活中，没有什么是理所当然的，艺术家们经常在美丽和奇怪之间寻找适当的平衡。

关于作者：

Alvar Gonzales-Palacios, a Cuban who was naturalised Italian, is one of the most eminent art historians. He studied with Roberto Longhi, edited the review Arte Illustrata and, from 1976 to 2009, the Antologia di Belle Arti for several years with Federico Zeri. He is the author of extensive research on decorative arts, including the catalogue of furnishings at the Quirinale palace and that of the mosaics and hard stones in the Spanish royal collections. His studies on Luigi Valadier have had several exhibitions: at the Louvre, at Villa Medici and at the Frick Collection. In 1999, he published the autobiography Le tre età. In 1998, he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur and, in 2008, the Encomienda dell’Orden de Isabel la Católica in Spain.