Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has experienced growing interest due to its great potential in myocardial tissue characterization. Myocardium T1 values can be considered a useful imaging biomarker. Although many different T1 mapping techniques already exist, accurate and precise myocardial T1 quantification remains a desired yet challenging goal. Cardiac T1 mapping necessitates high precision to: i) discriminate values within the relatively short range of T1 values in healthy and diseased tissues, ii) allow both pre and post contrast agent injection T1 assessment, which is mandatory to compute the ECV and iii) allow comparison across platforms and hospitals. It should also provide a T1 value independent of heart rate. Among published methods, not any of them offer an “ideal” T1 quantification method. The main aim of this work is to optimize and to validate a precise and accurate quantitative T1 mapping technique. In order to achieve this goal, the sequence called « SMART1Map » based on the saturation recovery curve sampling was used. The first step consisted in performing T1 measurements on phantoms and healthy volunteers at 1,5T and 3T. Although this study allowed to assess accurate myocardium T1 values close to literature ones (1150 ± 84 ms), the sequence showed a poor precision likely due to a lack of robustness to magnetic field inhomogeneties and frequency offsets. Optimization (including simulation, implementation and tests) of the saturation RF pulse used in the sequence was carried out in phantoms then on healthy subjects at 3T. From this development, fibrosis detection through T1 measurements in clinical studies can now be started at 1.5T and 3T