Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CELLINI, BENVENUTO (1500-1571)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 606 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CELLINI, BENVENUTO (1500-1571) , See also:Italian artist, See also:metal worker and sculptor, was See also:born in See also:Florence, where his See also:family, originally landowners in the Val d'Ambra, had for three generations been settled. His See also:father, Giovanni Cellini, was a musician and artificer of musical See also:instruments; he married Maria Lisabetta Granacci, and eighteen years elapsed before they had any progeny. Benvenuto (meaning " Welcome ") was the third See also:child. The father destined him for the same profession as himself, and endeavoured to thwart his inclination for See also:design and metal See also:work. When he had reached the See also:age of fifteen his youthful predilection had become too strong to be resisted, and his father reluctantly gave consent to his being apprenticed to a See also:goldsmith, See also:Antonio di Sandro, named Marcone. He had already attracted some See also:notice in his native See also:place, when, being implicated in a fray with some of his companions, he was banished for six months to See also:Siena, where he worked for See also:Francesco Castoro, a goldsmith; from thence he removed to See also:Bologna, where he became a more accomplished See also:flute-player and made progress in the goldsmith's See also:art. After visiting See also:Pisa, and after twice resettling for a while in Florence (where he was visited by the sculptor See also:Torrigiano, who unsuccessfully suggested his accompanying him to See also:England), he decamped to See also:Rome, aged nineteen. His first See also:attempt at his See also:craft here was a See also:silver See also:casket, followed by some silver candlesticks, and later by a See also:vase for the See also:bishop of See also:Salamanca, which introduced him to the favourable notice of See also:Pope See also:Clement VII.; likewise at a later date one of his celebrated See also:works, the See also:gold medallion of " See also:Leda and the See also:Swan,"—the See also:head and torso of Leda cut in hard stone—executed for Gonfaloniere Gabbriello Cesarino, which is now in the See also:Vienna museum; he also reverted to See also:music, practised flute-playing, and was appointed one of the pope's See also:court-musicians. In the attack upon Rome by the See also:constable de See also:Bourbon, which occurred immediately after, in 1527, the bravery and address of Cellini proved of See also:signal service to the pontiff; if we may believe his own accounts, his was the very See also:hand which shot the Bourbon dead, and he afterwards killed Philibert, See also:prince of See also:Orange. His exploits paved the way for a reconciliation with the Florentine magistrates, and his return shortly after to his native place. Here he assiduously devoted himself to the See also:execution of medals, the most famous of which (executed a See also:short while later) are " See also:Hercules and the Nemean See also:Lion," in gold repousse work, and " See also:Atlas supporting the See also:Sphere," in chased gold, the latter eventually falling into the See also:possession of See also:Francis I. From Florence he went to the court of the See also:duke of See also:Mantua, and thence again to Florence and to Rome, where he was employed not only in the working of See also:jewelry, but also in the execution of See also:dies for private medals and for the papal See also:mint.

Here in 1529 he avenged a See also:

brother's See also:death by slaying the slayer; and shortly afterwards had to flee to See also:Naples to shelter ,himself from the consequences of an See also:affray with a See also:notary, See also:Ser Benedetto, whom he wounded. Through the See also:influence of several of the cardinals he obtained a See also:pardon; and on the See also:elevation of See also:Paul III. to the pontifical See also:throne he was reinstated in his former position of favour, notwithstanding a fresh See also:homicide of a gold-See also:smith which he had committed more by See also:accident than of malice prepense in the See also:interregnum. Once more the plots of Pierluigi See also:Farnese, a natural son of Paul III., led to his See also:retreat from Rome to Florence and See also:Venice, and once more he was restored with greater See also:honour than before. On returning from a visit to the court of Francis I., being now aged See also:thirty-seven, he was imprisoned on a See also:charge (apparently false) of having embezzled during the See also:war the gems of the pontifical See also:tiara; he remained some while confined in the See also:castle of Sant' Angelo, escaped, was recaptured, and treated with See also:great severity, and was in daily expectation of death on the See also:scaffold. At last, however, he was released at the intercession of Pierluigi's wife, and more especially of the See also:Cardinal d' See also:Este of See also:Ferrara, to whom he presented a splendid See also:cup. For a while after this he worked at the court of Francis I. at See also:Fontainebleau and in See also:Paris; but he considered the duchesse d'See also:Etampes to be set against him, and the intrigues of the See also:king's favourites, whom he would not stoop to conciliate and could not venture to silence by the See also:sword, as he had silenced his enemies in Rome, led him, after about five years of laborious and sumptuous work, and of continually-recurring jealousies and violences, to retire in 1545 in disgust to Florence, where he employed his See also:time in works of art, and exasperated his See also:temper in rivalries with the uneasy-natured sculptor See also:Baccio See also:Bandinelli. The first collision between the two had occurred several years before when Pope Clement VII. commissioned Cellini to mint his coinage. Now, in an altercation before Duke Cosimo, Bandinelli insultingly stigmatized Bcavenuto as guilty of See also:gross immorality; in his autobiography Cellini rather repels than denies the charge, but he certainly repels it with See also:demonstrative and See also:grotesque vivacity. Two somewhat similar charges had been made ere this: one in Paris, which he braved out in court —the other, in Florence, was a See also:mere private See also:quarrel, and perhaps undeserving of See also:attention. During the war with Siena Cellini was appointed to strengthen the defences of his native See also:city, and, though rather shabbily treated by his ducal patrons, he continued to gain the admiration of his See also:fellow-citizens by the magnificent works which he produced. He died in Florence in 1571, unmarried, and leaving no posterity, and was buried with great pomp in the See also:church of the Annunziata. He had supported in Florence a widowed See also:sister and her six daughters.

Besides the works in gold and silver which have been adverted to, Cellini executed several pieces of See also:

sculpture on a grander See also:scale. The most distinguished of these is the See also:bronze See also:group of " See also:Perseus holding the head of See also:Medusa," a work (first suggested by Duke Cosimo de' See also:Medici) now in the Loggia dei See also:Lanzi at Florence, full of the See also:fire of See also:genius and the grandeur of a terrible beauty, one of the most typical and unforgettable monuments of the Italian See also:Renaissance. The casting of this great work gave Cellini the utmost trouble and anxiety; and its completion was hailed with rapturous See also:homage from all parts of See also:Italy. The See also:original See also:relief from the See also:foot of the pedestal—Perseus and Andromeda—is in the Bargello, and replaced by a See also:cast. Not less characteristic of its splendidly gifted and barbarically untameable author are the autobiographical See also:memoirs which he composed, beginning them in Florence in 1558,—a See also:production of the utmost See also:energy, directness and racy animation, setting forth one of the most singular careers in all the See also:annals of See also:fine art. His amours and hatreds, his passions and delights, his love of the sumptuous and the exquisite in art, his self-See also:applause and self-assertion, See also:running now and again into extravagances which it is impossible to See also:credit, and difficult to set down as strictly conscious falsehoods, make this one of the most singular and fascinating books in existence. Here we read, not only of the See also:strange and varied adventures of which we have presented a hasty See also:sketch, but of the devout complacency with which Cellini could See also:con-template a satisfactorily achieved homicide; of the See also:legion of devils which he and a conjuror evoked in the Colosseum, after one of his not innumerous mistresses had been spirited away from him by her See also:mother; of the marvellous See also:halo of See also:light which he found surrounding his head at See also:dawn and See also:twilight after his See also:Roman imprisonment, and his supernatural visions and angelic See also:protection during that adversity; and of his being poisoned on two several occasions. If he is unmeasured in abusing some See also:people, he is also unlimited in praising others. The autobiography has been translated into See also:English by See also:Thomas See also:Roscoe, by J. A. See also:Symonds, and by A. See also:Macdonald.

Cellini also wrote See also:

treatises on the gold-smith's art, on sculpture, and on design (translated by C. R. Ashbee, 1899). Among his works of art not already mentioned, many of which have perished, were a See also:colossal See also:Mars for a See also:fountain at Fontainebleau and the bronzes of the See also:doorway, coins for the Papal and Florentine states, a See also:Jupiter in silver of See also:life See also:size, and a bronze bust of Bindo Altoviti. The works of decorative art are, speaking broadly, rather florid than chastened in See also:style. In addition to the bronze statue of Perseus and the medallions already referred to, the works of art in existence to-See also:day executed by him are the celebrated See also:salt-cellar made for Francis I. at Vienna; a medallion of Clement VII. in See also:commemoration of the See also:peace between the See also:Christian princes, 1530, with a bust of the pope on the See also:reverse and a figure- of Peace setting fire to a heap of arms in front of the See also:temple of See also:Janus, signed with the artist's name; a See also:medal of Francis I. with his portrait, also signed; and a medal of Cardinal Pietro See also:Bembo. Cellini, while employed at the papal mint at Rome during the papacy of Clement VII. and later of Paul III., executed the dies of several coins and medals, some of which still survive at this now defunct mint. He was also in the service of Alessandro de' Medici, first duke of Florence, for whom he executed in 1535 a See also:forty-soldi piece with a bust of the duke on one See also:side and See also:standing figures of the See also:saints Cosmo and Damian on the other. Some connoisseurs attribute to his hand several plaques, " Jupiter crushing the Giants," " Fight between Perseus and Phinaeus," a See also:Dog, &c. The important works which have perished include the uncompleted See also:chalice intended for Clement VII.; a gold See also:cover for a See also:prayer-See also:book as a See also:gift from Pope Paul III. to See also:Charles V.,—both described at length in his autobiography; large silver statues of Jupiter, See also:Vulcan and Mars, wrought for Francis I. during his sojourn in Paris; a bust of See also:Julius See also:Caesar; and a silver cup for the cardinal of Ferrara. The magnificent gold " See also:button," or See also:morse, made by Cellini for the See also:cope of Clement VII., the competition for which is so graphically described in his autobiography, appears to have been sacrificed by See also:Pius VI., with many other priceless specimens of the goldsmith's art, in furnishing the See also:indemnity of 30,000,000 francs demanded by See also:Napoleon at the conclusion of the See also:campaign against the States of the Church in 1797. According to the terms of the treaty, the pope was permitted to pay a third of that sum in See also:plate and jewels.

Fortunately there are in the See also:

print See also:room of the See also:British Museum three See also:water-See also:colour drawings of this splendid morse by F. Bertoli, done at the instance of an Englishman named Talman in the first See also:half of the 18th See also:century. The obverse and reverse, as well as the rim, are See also:drawn full size, and moreover the morse with the See also:precious stones set therein, including a See also:diamond then considered the second largest in the See also:world, is fully described.

End of Article: CELLINI, BENVENUTO (1500-1571)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CELLIER, ALFRED (1844-1891) 		[next]
CELLOR

Site © 2006 - Net Industries