The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

by Benvenuto Cellini

  In Cellini’s Life there have also been perceived sustained efforts to establish the protagonist as a man in the mould of Michelangelo with experiences constantly similar to those of the master and, on the other hand, the composition of a new literary form, anticipating the fiction of the post-Renaissance world, ‘best interpreted in the light of the theory of the novel and its fundamental analytical criteria’.*

  Cellini himself, discussing the works of Dante, remarked caustically that the commentators made him say things ‘of which he never even thought’. The Life will always be a rich pasture for imaginative exegesis and original interpretation.

  Undoubtedly, it was chiefly as an artist that Cellini wrote his autobiography. With his love of beauty – especially the beauty of the human form – went a delight in craftsmanship and difficult achievement. He writes of his art as if it were his mistress: sometimes he was unfaithful to her, as when during the siege of Castel Sant’Angelo his drawing, his studies, and his wonderful music were all forgotten in the sound of the guns. But even his liking for warfare was a delight in dramatic execution and skilful effect.

  So, if the first climax of the Life occurs when Cellini is assured by a vision during his imprisonment of God’s approval of his character and deeds, the second occurs when his own frenzied labours and divine intervention bring about the successful casting of the Perseus.

  As an artist, he regarded himself as a faithful disciple of Michelangelo, and he never tired of repeating how much he owed ‘that great Michelangelo, from whom alone and from no one else I have learnt all I know’. Michelangelo did exert a continually strong influence on his style, both while he was at Rome and when he was back in Florence, showing itself particularly in his two most famous works, in the salt-cellar made for Francis I and in the base of the Perseus. Besides the Perseus and the salt-cellar (the former now in the Loggia dei Lanzi, at Florence, and the latter at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) sufficient remains of his work to give some idea of his artistic status.

  Cellini’s own exalted estimate of his artistic powers cannot be dismissed merely as part and parcel of an habitual rhodomontade. Two contemporaries – Varchi and Giorgio Vasari – acknowledged his competence as a jeweller. Vasari, again, wrote that he made medals in a way surpassing the ancients, that he was the most famous goldsmith of his day and a distinguished sculptor. And we have evidence of his skill as a goldsmith and medallist in the salt-cellar, in medals and coins struck for Pope Clement and Alessandro de’ Medici, in studies of Pope Clement’s morse, and in impressions of various seals. But the question of his status finally revolves, as Cellini himself would have wished, round his work as a sculptor.

  By the time Cellini arrived in France in 1540, Italian influence was strong and widespread. He was able to use the kingly if erratic generosity of Francis I to display his virtuosity as a sculptor. The work done at Fontainebleau was a variety of Mannerism to which Cellini made his own distinctive contribution, but, typically, this contribution was in his treatment of detail and his technical skill. The great statue of Mars, mentioned in the Life, illustrated his corresponding urge for the grandiose and the sensational, but his main achievement was the Nymph of Fontainebleau, which still survives.

  When he returned to Florence, he determined to show the Florentines that he now ranked as a sculptor second to none. Among the extant productions of this period are the Perseus; the Greyhound, the bust of Cosimo, the Ganymede in marble, Apollo and Hyacinth, and the Narcissus (all in the Museo Nazionale); the bust of Bindo Altoviti (now in the United States); and the Crucifix (in the Escorial).

  Symonds’ judgement, still sometimes echoed, was that Cellini had the ‘qualities of a consummate craftsman, but not those of an imaginative artist’ and that his work is ‘deficient in depth, deficient in true dignity and harmony’. More recently, with insistence on the right of Mannerism to be considered not as a decadent art form but as a distinct artistic style, existing in its own right, the tendency has been to reinstate Cellini as a sculptor and to set a far higher value on his work.*

  It is, however, the Life which has won Cellini his immortality. After various vicissitudes, the manuscript disappeared during the eighteenth century. In 1805 it was discovered in a bookshop, and, twenty years later, was bequeathed by its owner to the Laurentian Library at Florence, where it now is. The first printed edition which appeared in Naples in 1728 was taken from an unknown source. Some time before the Life was translated into French or German it was known here in the version of Thomas Nugent, first published in 1771. In 1796 it was translated into German; and in 1822 it found its way into French, near the height of the romantic movement. There have been several English translations, by Nugent, by Thomas Roscoe (1822), by John Addington Symonds (1887), by Anne Macdonell (1903), and by Robert Cust (1910).

  In my own translation I have tried to bring out the extravagance of the original and its frequent changes in tempo and emphasis. It is hardly possible to match all Cellini’s colloquialisms in present-day English, and inevitably many subtleties – particularly in his vocabulary of abuse – are lost. I have not hesitated to shorten his periods now and then, to remove obscurities where possible, and to break the text with frequent paragraphing. I have generally standardized place and proper names, but otherwise left them in their original form, save where it seemed reasonable to give them in a form easily recognizable by the English reader. Finally, I can best bring this introduction to a close by quoting, with mixed feelings, the comment of a French scholar – Eugène Plon – on translating the Life. Cellini’s language, he wrote, ‘is the dialect of the Florentine people, so pure, so original, and so witty, that it defies translation’.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  For being able to work happily on this revised and extended edition of my translation of the Life I am grateful to my editor and friend, Peter Carson, who in this context follows in the footsteps of the remarkable E. V. Rieu who first boldly commissioned the translation from me as an early Penguin Classic. My special thanks are also due to the scholarly and editorial advice and help given by Paolo Rossi, Helen Hyde and Jennie West in the preparation and completion of this edition, with notes, index and extended introduction.

  G. B.

  A facsimile of a page from the manuscript of the Life

  CELLINI ’S PREPARATORY SONNET

  I write about my troubled life

  to thank the God of nature

  who gave me my soul and then took care of it.

  I have been involved in astounding exploits and I have

  lived to tell the tale.

  That cruel destiny of mine has diminished my life,

  my wealth, my glory and my virtue more than I deserved.

  In grace, valour, beauty, and in my art

  I have surpassed many and arrived at the level of the one

  who was my better.*

  The one thing that grieves me greatly

  is that I can now see the time lost in vain pursuits

  the wind carries away our fragile aspirations

  But since regret is futile, I shall be happy

  to ascend to heaven welcome as I was when born

  in the flower of this Tuscan land.

  This prose translation is presented for convenient comparison with Cellini’s complex and sometimes obscure Italian verse. It is the challenging version by Paolo Rossi based on his original interpretation of the sonnet, discussed fully in Rossi’s forthcoming Monograph on Cellini (Manchester University Press).

  A CHRONOLOGY OF CELLINI

  (Adapted from The Life of Benvenuto Cellini, trans. R. Cust)

  1500–1515 Cellini is born in Florence on 3 November 1500. His father makes him study music. He is taught the goldsmith’s craft by the father of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli. He works in the shop of Marcone the goldsmith.

  From 1502 Piero Soderini governs Florence as ‘ gonfaloniere for life’ till 1512, when the Medici return to power.

  1516–18 Cellini is banished to Siena and ente
rs the workshop of the goldsmith Francesco Castoro. After six months he returns home and then goes to Bologna where he studies music and the working of precious metals.

  After returning to Florence, he leaves for Pisa and remains a year with Ulivieri della Chiostra. He returns to the workshop of Marcone in Florence.

  1518–23 Cellini endeavours to imitate the style of Michelangelo, and copies Filippo Lippi’s drawings. He goes to Rome with the woodcarver Tasso. In the shop of Firenzuola he makes a salt-cellar.

  At the end of two years he returns to Florence, to Salimbene, in whose shop he makes a silver ‘heart-key’ (chiavacuore). He is heavily fined for violence and makes a furious attack on his enemies. He flees to Rome.

  1523–4 Clement VII (Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici) becomes Pope.

  In Rome Cellini enters the workshop of Lucagnolo of Jesi. He comes to know Gianfrancesco Penni, ‘il Fattore’; and studies the works of Raphael and Michelangelo. He works for Porzia Chigi and makes a large vase for the Bishop of Salamanca. He shares a workshop with Giovanpietro della Tacca, a goldsmith from Milan, and joins the papal orchestra.

  Cellini works for the Pope and several cardinals. He takes a shop of his own, where he makes a medal of Leda and the Swan for Gabrielo Cesarini.

  1524 Cellini is involved in a duel. He works in rivalry with Lautizio, Caradosso and Amerighi on seal-cutting, engraving with the chisel and enamelling. He studies the antiquities of Rome. He makes two vases for Jacomo Berengario da Carpi.

  After an illness, he goes to Cervetri to visit the painter il Rosso. He engraves foliage and grotesques and works in rivalry with Caradosso in making medals. He nurses, assists and quarrels with Luigi Pulci who is thrown from his horse and dies.

  1527 In February, German Landsknechts join forces with the Spanish troops under the Duke of Bourbon whose undisciplined army moves south to besiege Rome. Bourbon is killed by a chance bullet perhaps fired by Cellini who takes refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo.

  Cellini melts down the gold from the papal jewels. He apparently wounds the Prince of Orange, successor to Bourbon as Captain-General.

  1528–9 Cellini returns to Florence and buys remission of the Ban against him. He goes to Mantua, works in the shop of Master Niccolò and is welcomed by Giulio Romano.

  He executes a reliquary for the Duke of Mantua, and a seal and other works for Cardinal Gonzaga. He leaves Mantua for Florence where he finds his father dead. For Girolamo Marretti he makes a medal showing Hercules and the Nemean Lion, and for Federigo Ginori a medal of Atlas.

  Clement VII declares war on Florence. He recalls Cellini to Rome.

  1529–30 Florence surrenders to the Papacy. Clement VII receives Cellini in Rome and absolves him. Cellini is commissioned to make a morse for the Pope’s cope. He is employed to make dies for the pontifical Mint and is made Keeper of the Dies of the papal coinage.

  Cellini continues in the workshop of Raffaello del Moro and makes friends with Monsignor Gaddi, Annibale Caro, and other scholars. He strikes a coin, upon which is a figure of St Peter walking upon the sea.

  Cellini’s brother is slain in a scuffle; Cellini kills the assassin. His shop is broken into but the Pope’s jewels are safe.

  1530–32 Cellini is suspected of forgery but proven innocent. He is appointed a papal mace-bearer and designs a chalice for the Pope. He applies unsuccessfully for a vacant post in the Privy Seal Office, which is given to Sebastiano, thereafter known as Sebastiano del Piombo.

  1532 Alessandro de’ Medici is named Duke of Florence.

  Cellini competes in designing the mount for a unicorn’s horn. He is deprived of his post at the Mint and refuses to give up the unfinished chalice.

  1533–4 Cellini falls in love with a Sicilian girl. He befriends a priest who practises necromancy.

  He competes for a medal with Giovanni Bernardi of Castel Bolognese.

  Accused of killing his rival Tobbia, Cellini flees to Naples where he visits the antiquities and is received by the viceroy. He returns to Rome to the house of Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici. He presents to the Pope a medal bearing the figure of Peace, and receives a commission to make another reverse for it representing an episode in the life of Moses.

  1534–5 Pope Clement VII dies and is succeeded by Alessandro Farnese, Paul III. Cellini kills Pompeo the goldsmith.

  Pope Paul desires Cellini to undertake his coinage and provides him with a safe-conduct. Cellini makes scudi adorned with the design of the Vas Electionis.

  Persecuted by Pier Luigi Farnese, Cellini is warned by one of his intended assassins and escapes to Florence.

  1535 From Florence, with the sculptor Tribolo, Cellini travels to Venice where he visits the sculptor Sansovino.

  After returning to Florence he makes coins and other works of art for Duke Alessandro de’ Medici. Recalled by the Pope, he returns to Rome against the will of the Duke, for whom, however, he promises to make a medal.

  In Rome Cellini is pardoned for the murder of Pompeo.

  1535–7 In November Cellini goes to Florence and encounters the Duke. He returns to Rome, where he works upon the Duke’s medal.

  The vision of a conflagration in the air in the direction of Florence warns him of the death of Duke Alessandro. Cosimo de’ Medici is called on to take power in Florence.

  For the Emperor Charles V on the occasion of his visit to Rome Cellini makes the cover for a Book of Offices of the Madonna.

  1537 Cellini sets a diamond in a ring for Paul III. He completes the bookcover for the Emperor Charles V.

  He decides that he will go to France and leaves Rome on 2 April. At Padua he makes designs for a medal for Pietro Bembo. He journeys through Switzerland. In June he arrives in Paris.

  1537–8 After the assassination of Alessandro de’ Medici, Cosimo de’ Medici is named Duke of Florence and rules till 1574.

  In Paris Cellini visits Rosso, the painter. He is received by King Francis I, and accompanies the court to Lyons. Falling sick he returns to Italy, visiting Ferrara and Loreto en route, reaching Rome in December.

  Cellini executes a commission for the wife of Gerolamo Orsini; and makes a basin and ewer for the Cardinal of Ferrara.

  He is recalled to France, but is then arrested and thrown into the Castel Sant’Angelo.

  1538 Cellini is accused of stealing and imprisoned in Castel Sant’Angelo. Monsignor di Morluc demands his release, in the name of the King of France. Having broken his leg in escaping by descending the keep of the castle, Cellini is taken into Cardinal Cornaro’s palace.

  1538–9 Cardinal Cornaro and Roberto Pucci beg the Pope to release Cellini. Cardinal Cornaro hands Cellini over to the Pope. He is transported to the Torre di Nona and then taken back to the Castel Sant’Angelo.

  1539 Cellini tries to commit suicide. After having a vision of a beautiful young man, he prays to God in ecstasy. He is taken back to the large cells occupied by him at the beginning of his imprisonment. The castellan dies, and Cellini suspects his enemies of trying to poison him.

  The Cardinal of Ferrara procures Cellini’s liberty from the Pope. Cellini notices that a halo remains around his head in consequence of his visions. He writes a poem celebrating his imprisonment.

  1539–40 Cellini stays with the Cardinal of Ferrara for whom he makes a silver basin and ewer and a pontifical seal. The cardinal gives him a commission for a salt-cellar. He makes the model after a design of his own.

  He leaves Rome on his way to France. From Florence he proceeds to Ferrara, where he finds Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. For Duke Ercole he makes a portrait upon a medallion of black stone, with a reverse representing Peace.

  1540 Summoned by the Cardinal of Ferrara, Cellini leaves Ferrara for Paris. At Fontainebleau he exhibits his basin and ewer to the King. He leaves determined to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre; but is persuaded to turn back.

  Ordered to make twelve silver statues Cellini presents the King with models for Jove (Jupiter), Juno, Apollo and Vulcan. The Château de Petit Nesle is allotted as
his residence and workshop. He makes large-sized models of Jove, Vulcan and Mars. He receives a commission from King Francis to make a salt-cellar after he shows the wax model prepared for the Cardinal of Ferrara; he is told to carry it out in gold.

  1540–43 Cellini works on a salt-cellar and a large silver vase. He casts in bronze the base for a figure of Jove, adorned with bas-reliefs.

  The King orders him to adorn the château of Fontainebleau for which he produces the models for the entrance and a fountain.

  Becoming in danger of falling into disgrace with the King, he is favoured by the Dauphin and the Queen of Navarre.

  1543 The order for the fountain at Fontainebleau is transferred to Primaticcio. Cellini expels Paolo Miccieri and his model and mistress from his premises. Cellini visits Fontainebleau to discuss the dies for the King’s coins, but fails to reach agreement. He compels Miccieri to marry Caterina.