William Painter (author)

Painter was long believed to be a native of Kent due to confusion with a namesake, who matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in 1554.

[3] Although he offered to repay this, the debt was not discharged until the time of Painter's grandson due to delays in his lifetime and discovery of more discrepancies after his death.

[3] The accusations notably comprise charges and counter-charges between government officials, which point to endemic corruption in the Elizabethan civil service.

[3] Painter began translating into English in 1558 with Nicholas à Moffan's Soltani Soymanni Turcorum Imperatoris horrendum facinus, as Horrible and Cruell Murder of Sultan Solyman.

[5] The notable fashion for Italian settings in Elizabethan drama derived partly from the vogue for Painter's work and similar collections.

This is believed to be the case with well-known works such as Beaumont and Fletcher's Triumph of Death, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (from Belleforest), and James Shirley's Love's Cruelty.

This edition was collated (1890) with the British Museum copy of 1575 by Joseph Jacobs, who added further prefatory matter, including some on the importance of the Italian novella in Elizabethan drama.

[5] It has been suggested that Painter was responsible for the 1580 work A Moorning Diti upon the Deceas of the High and Mighti Prins Henri, Earl of Arundel, attributed to Guil.