[1] Although highly regarded during his lifetime as an artist senza errori ("without errors"), his renown was eclipsed after his death by that of his contemporaries Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it "is marked throughout his career by an interest, exceptional among Florentines, in effects of colour and atmosphere and by sophisticated informality and natural expression of emotion".

[5] From 1509 to 1514 the Servite Order employed Del Sarto, Franciabigio, and Andrea Feltrini in a programme of frescoes at Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze.

He executed them rapidly, depicting the saint healing a leper through the gift of his undertunic; predicting the bad end of some blasphemers; and restoring a girl possessed with a devil.

The two final frescoes of the series depicted the healing of a child at the death bed of Filippo Benizzi and the curing of sick adults and children through his relic garment held at the church.

[3] The original contract also required him to paint five scenes of the life and miracles of Saint Sebastian, but he told the Servites that he no longer wished to continue with the second cycle, most likely due to the low remuneration.

This led to an invitation from François I, in 1518, and he journeyed to Paris in June of that year, along with his pupil Andrea Squarzzella, leaving his wife, Lucrezia, in Florence.

[9] The story inspired Robert Browning's poem-monologue "Andrea del Sarto Called the 'Faultless Painter'" (1855),[11] but now is dismissed by some historians as apocryphal, untrue although oft-repeated.

These were succeeded by the Dance of the Daughter of Herodias, the Beheading of the Baptist, the Presentation of his head to Herod, an allegory of Hope, the Apparition of the Angel to Zacharias (1523) and the monochrome Visitation.

[9] The Madonna of the Harpies is a depiction of the Virgin and child on a pedestal, flanked by two saints (Bonaventure or Francis and John the Evangelist), and at her feet, two cherubs.

In an Italy swamped with a tsunami of Madonnas, it would be easy to overlook this work; however, this commonly copied scheme also lends itself to comparison of his style with that of his contemporaries.

[9] Of those who initially followed Andrea's style in Florence, the most prominent would be Jacopo Pontormo, along with Rosso Fiorentino, Francesco Salviati, and Jacopino del Conte.

[17] Vasari, however, was highly critical of his teacher, alleging that, although having all the prerequisites of a great artist, he lacked ambition and a divine fire of inspiration that animated the works of his more famous contemporaries: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael.