I carried on working hard and made a great deal of progress: the Jupiter was nearing completion, and so was the vase, and the doorway was beginning to reveal its beauty. At that time the King arrived in Paris. Although I gave 1544 as the year when my daughter was born, we are still in 1543; there was a suitable opportunity for me to speak of my daughter here, and I did so in order not to distract from other, more important matters. I shall say nothing more of her till the proper time.
As I said, the King came to Paris. He at once paid me a visit, to find my work so well in hand that anyone would have been fully satisfied: and to tell the truth that splendid King was as pleased as one who had taken the pains I had taken could possibly desire. He immediately remembered of his own accord that the Cardinal of Ferrara had given me nothing – neither an allowance nor anything else – of what he had promised me: and he whispered to his Admiral that the Cardinal had behaved very badly in not giving me anything, but that he meant to remedy this unfitting state of affairs because he saw that I was not the man to make a song and dance about it, but that some day before you could bat an eyelid I would clear off without saying a word. His Majesty returned home, and after dinner he told the Cardinal to give orders on his behalf to the royal treasurer to pay me seven thousand gold crowns, as quickly as possible, in three or four instalments according to his convenience, but not to forget to do so.
And he added: ‘I gave Benvenuto into your care, and you have forgotten him.’
The Cardinal said that he would gladly do all that his Majesty asked. But his evil nature was such that he let the matter rest.
Meanwhile, the wars grew worse; and it was at this time that the Emperor with his huge army was making in the direction of Paris.258 The Cardinal realized that France was acutely short of money and one day, having been discussing me with the King, he said:
‘Sacred Majesty, acting for the best I have not had any money given to Benvenuto. For one thing, we have only too much need of it at present; and for another, such a handsome sum of money would have meant losing your Benvenuto more quickly; because thinking that he was a rich man he would have bought some property in Italy and then one day, when the fancy took him, he would have left you without a second thought. So I have come to the conclusion that the best thing would be for your Majesty to give him something within the kingdom, if you want him to stay longer in your service.’
The King approved these arguments as he was short of money. But all the same, since he possessed a nobility of mind that was truly worthy of such a great King, he reckoned that the Cardinal was motivated more by the desire to ingratiate himself than by the necessity of having beforehand taken into account the needs of so great a kingdom.
So although, as I have said, the King acted as though he approved of the Cardinal’s arguments, in his own mind he had decided not to act on them. What happened was that, as I said above, he returned to Paris, and the following day, without any advances from me, he came of his own accord to my house. There I met him and led him through various rooms in which work of various kinds was displayed. Starting with the less important things, I showed him a great number of works in bronze, more than he had seen for a long time past. Then I took him to see the silver statue of Jupiter, showing it to him nearly finished, with all its beautiful adornments. It struck him as being much more splendid than any other man would have judged it. This was because of a terrible thing that had happened to him a few years before.
At that time, after the capture of Tunis, the Emperor was passing through Paris by agreement with his brother-in-law, King Francis; and the King wanted to make him a gift worthy of so great an Emperor. So he had made a silver statue of Hercules, of exactly the same size as I made the Jupiter. Now this Hercules, the King admitted, was the ugliest work he had ever seen, and he had said as much to the Paris craftsmen who claimed to practise their art better than anyone else in the world. They gave the King to understand that that was the best that could be achieved in silver, and despite this they wanted to be paid two thousand ducats for their abortive work. So when the King saw the craftsmanship of what I had done it struck him as being unbelievably beautiful. He made a fair judgement and decided that my Jupiter should also be valued at two thousand ducats.
‘I paid them nothing by way of salary,’ he said, ‘and I allow this man about a thousand crowns a year: so, taking his allowance into account, he can certainly make it for me for the price of two thousand gold crowns.’
Then I took him to have a look at some other work, in silver and gold, and at a large number of models for new ventures. Just before he left I showed him the huge giant that stood on the castle lawn; and on seeing it the King was more astonished than he had ever been before. Turning to the Admiral, who was called Monsignor Aniballe,259 he said:
‘The Cardinal hasn’t provided him with anything, and he himself is too slow in coming forward, so without any more talk I intend to see to what he wants – these men aren’t in the habit of asking for anything, but they believe that their work asks a good deal for them. So provide him with the first abbey with revenue worth up to two thousand crowns that falls vacant; and if no vacancy of that worth occurs let him have the amount spread over two or three, since it’s all the same to him.’
I was standing near so I heard everything, and straight away I thanked the King as if the gift were already given. I told his Majesty that after this favour I meant to work for him without any more reward – in the shape either of a salary or other payment for my work – till the day when old age forced me to give up working: then I would be able to end my tired life in peace, living honourably on the income he had given me and remembering how I had served a king as great as his Majesty. At these words of mine the King smiled very encouragingly and said: ‘And so may it be!’ Then, very contentedly, his Majesty left me to myself.
When Madame d’Étampes heard how my affairs were progressing her spite against me increased more than ever.
‘Today,’ she said to herself, ‘I rule the world – and a little man like that shrugs his shoulders at me!’
She went the whole hog in her determination to harm me. When a certain man came her way – an expert distiller, who supplied her with some splendid liquid perfumes, for removing wrinkles, which were up to then unused in France – she sent him to the King and he showed his Majesty some of his essences. The King was delighted with them, and while he was in this agreeable mood she got him to ask his Majesty for a tennis-court that I had in my garden, as well as for a number of little apartments near by which he said I wasn’t using. The good King realized who was behind this and would not answer him. Then Madame d’Étampes set out to persuade him by use of the arts which women practise with men; and as a result her plan easily succeeded, because she found the King in one of those amorous moods to which he was very subject and he conceded all that she wanted.
The man came to see me in the company of the treasurer Grolier,260 a great French nobleman. When he arrived at my castle the treasurer, who spoke excellent Italian, addressed me in my own language and began joking with me: then, when he saw the time was ripe, he said:
‘On behalf of the King I put this man in possession of the tennis-court and the apartments that go with it.’
To this I retorted: ‘Everything comes from our sacred King; so you could have entered the place as freely as you liked. Acting through notaries and court officials looks more like an attempt at fraud than a genuine commission from so great a King. So I assure you that before I go and complain to his Majesty I shall protect myself in the way that the King commissioned me to the other day, and if I don’t see a plain warrant in the King’s own hand I shall throw the man you’ve installed here out through the window.’
After he had heard what I said the treasurer went off, threatening and grumbling, and left me behind to do the same – though I did not intend to make any other move as yet. Then I went to find the notaries who had put the fellow in possession. I knew them very well, and they told me that the p
roceedings were in fact in order, and had been done at the King’s command, but that this did not matter very much. They said that if I had made some show of resistance he would not have taken possession as he had, and that these were acts and customs of the court which did not concern in the slightest obedience to the King. So, they concluded, if I succeeded in depriving him of possession in the same way as he had entered it would be well done and nothing would happen.
This hint was good enough. Next day, I began to make use of my weapons, and although it proved a difficult undertaking I looked on it as a pleasure. Every day I made an unexpected assault with rocks, pikes, and arquebuses. I fired without ball, but I put so much fear into them that no one was willing to come and help him. One day when I found that he was resisting only feebly I forced my way into the house and threw him out, hurling all his belongings after him. Then I went to the King and told him that I had done just exactly what his Majesty had commanded, by defending myself against all those who tried to hinder me from serving him. The King burst out laughing at this, and then he had a new patent drawn up to protect me against further molestation.
Meanwhile I gave all my attention to finishing the fine silver statue of Jupiter261 together with its gilded base, which I had placed on a wooden plinth. Only a part of the plinth was visible and I had fixed in it four small balls, made of hard wood, more than half concealed in their sockets, like the nut in a crossbow. These were so skilfully arranged that a small child could easily, without the slightest effort, push the statue of Jupiter backwards and forwards or turn it round on itself. When I had set everything up to my satisfaction I took it to Fontainebleau, where the King was staying.
By then Bologna had brought from Rome the statues I mentioned, and he had taken great pains in having them cast in bronze.262 I knew nothing of this, partly because he had kept his doings very secret, and partly because Fontainebleau is more than forty miles away from Paris: so I was kept completely in the dark. When I wanted to find out from the King where to place the Jupiter, Madame d’Étampes, who was present, told him that there was no place more suitable than his beautiful gallery. This is what we call in Tuscany a loggia, or, more accurately, a corridor – a corridor, because a loggia is the name given to apartments open along one side.
Anyhow, this room was more than a hundred paces in length, was richly furnished, and was hung with a number of paintings from the hand of our splendid Florentine, Rosso; under the paintings were grouped a great many pieces of sculpture, some in the round and others in low relief. The room was about twelve paces across. Bologna had brought here all his antiques, beautifully cast in bronze, and had arranged them magnificently with each one raised on its own pedestal. And, as I said before, they were the most exquisite works of art, copied from the antiques of Rome. I brought in my Jupiter; and then, when I saw such a splendid spectacle with everything so skilfully set out, I said to myself:
‘This is certainly running the gauntlet – now God help me.’
I put it in its place, positioning it as well as I could, and I waited for the arrival of the great King. In Jupiter’s right hand I had placed his thunderbolt, so that it looked as if he were about to hurl it; and in his left I had placed a globe. Among the flames I had very neatly introduced a length of white taper.
Madame d’Étampes had managed to keep the King distracted till nightfall, with the intention of ensuring one of two unfortunate results for myself – either his not coming at all, or, because of the darkness, my work’s being shown at a disadvantage: but, as God rewards those of us who trust in Him, quite the opposite happened, because seeing that it was growing dark I lit the taper that the Jupiter was holding, and as this was lifted a little way above the statue’s head its light fell down from above, making the work appear much more beautiful than it would have done in daylight. The King appeared on the scene along with his Madame d’Étampes, the Dauphin his son (today the King),263 the Dauphiness, his brother-inlaw the King of Navarre, with Madame Marguerite his daughter,264 and several other great lords whom Madame d’Étampes had carefully instructed to speak against me. As soon as I saw the King come in I had my assistant, Ascanio, push the beautiful statue of Jupiter forward in his direction; he moved it very gently, and since I had done the job very skilfully and the figure was very well constructed this slight movement made the statue seem alive. The antique statues were left somewhat in the background, and so my work was the first to delight the spectators.
Straight away the King said: ‘This is much more beautiful than anything that has ever been seen before: even though I’m a connoisseur I would never have come near imagining anything like this.’
As for those noblemen who were to speak against me, it seemed that they could not say enough in praise of my work.
Madame d’Étampes exclaimed fiercely: ‘Have you lost your eyes? Don’t you see how many beautiful bronze figures there are placed farther back? The true genius of sculpture resides in them, not in this modern rubbish.’
Then the King came forward, followed by the others. He glanced at those figures, which were not shown to any advantage since the light came from below, and he said:
‘Whoever it was wanted to do this man a bad turn has done him a great favour: the comparison with these splendid works of art only serves to make it apparent that his is more impressive and beautiful by a long chalk. We must rate Benvenuto very highly indeed: his work not only rivals, it surpasses the antiques.’
At this Madame d’Étampes said that if my work were to be seen in the daylight it would not appear a thousandth part as beautiful as it did by night; besides, she added, they were to notice how I had put a veil on my statue in order to hide its faults. This, in fact, was a piece of fine gauze that I had placed with exquisite grace over the Jupiter to add to its majesty. When I heard what she said I took hold of it, lifting it from below to reveal the statue’s fine genitals, and then, with evident annoyance, I tore it off completely. She thought that I had unveiled those parts in order to mock her. When the King saw how insulted she was and how I myself, overcome by passion, was trying to force out some words, like the wise man he was he said with deliberation in his own tongue:
‘Benvenuto, I forbid you to say a word: keep quiet, and you’ll be rewarded with a thousand times more treasure than you desire.’
Unable to say anything I writhed with fury – which made her growl even more angrily. Then the King left much sooner than he would have done, saying in a loud voice, to encourage me, that he had brought from Italy the greatest artist ever born.
I left the Jupiter where it was, and when I wanted to make my departure in the morning, I was given a thousand gold crowns, partly for my salary and partly in settlement of what I had spent myself. After I had collected the money I returned to Paris satisfied and in good spirits; and as soon as I arrived there I held a celebration in my house. After supper I had all my clothes brought in. They included a great quantity of silk articles, some very expensive fur, and also some of very fine cloth. I gave these as presents to all my workpeople, handing them out according to merit, down to the servant girls and the stable-boys, and so encouraging them to carry on helping me cheerfully.
With renewed strength I set out enthusiastically and carefully to finish my great statue of Mars which I had constructed on a nicely fitted wooden frame, over which there was a crust of plaster, an eighth of a cubit deep, cleverly made for his flesh. Having seen to that, I had begun to cast the figure in several pieces which were afterwards to be dovetailed together in the right way; and this proved very easy to do. I must not forget to mention one incident relating to this huge work which well deserves a laugh. I had forbidden anyone I employed to bring prostitutes either into the house or into the castle, and I was very strict in enforcing the rule. Now, my young Ascanio had fallen in love with a very pretty girl, and she with him. And so, having run away from her mother, one night she came to find him: she was very reluctant to leave him again and, not knowing where to hide her, as a last resort li
ke the ingenious fellow he was he put her inside the figure of Mars and made up a place for her to sleep in the head itself. There she remained for a while, and Ascanio sometimes brought her out at night, secretly. As it happened, I had left the head all but complete, and – the result of some trifling conceit on my part – uncovered so that it could be seen by nearly all Paris. Those who lived near had begun to climb on their roofs to have a look at it; and crowds of people used to come just to see it.
It was said in Paris that my castle was haunted from ancient times, though I myself never saw anything to make me believe this (all the ordinary people of Paris called the ghost Lemmonio Boreò):265 but since the young girl who was living in the head could not prevent some of her movements sometimes being seen through its eye-holes, a few of those silly people said that the ghost had entered into the statue’s body, and was moving its eyes and mouth as if it wanted to say something. A number of them went off in terror, and some of the more astute ones who came to see for themselves could not gainsay the fact that the eyes were flashing, and so they too claimed that there was a spirit inside the statue. They little guessed that there was not only spirit, but excellent flesh as well.
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Page 38
