To appreciate the meaning of beauty of great works of art, we must be familiar with the lives of the geniuses who created them. For in the personalities and life-stories of great artists is the key to their masterpieces.

Here are vivid stories of men who dreamed, struggled and suffered so that they might give expression to their divine gifts. And here are also frank stories of human beings, many of whom lived exciting lives of romance and adventure. These are Living biographies-and they have the fascination of fiction illumined and strengthened with the permanent appeal of historical fact.