BENVENUTO CELLINI. -(1500-1571.)

There is not a more remarkable figure in the history of Italian art than the exuberant, hardy, and brilliant sculptor and goldsmith whose career, resembling rather that of a condottiere than of an artist, has been related with such a mixture of cynicism and candor by himself. Not shrinking from crime in moments of passion, he was at times accessible to the promptings of generosity, and the verdict of posterity has not been altogether an unfavorable one.

Born during the reign of Cosimo I., who was a warm patron of art, his father, Giovanni Cellini, intended him to be a musician. But having at an early age developed a preference for the plastic arts, he entered the studio of Antonio di Sandra Involved in a baruffa, he fled to Siena, and thence to Bologna, returned to Florence for a short time, and then spent a year at Pisa. In 1518 Torrigiano, who had broken Michael Angelo's nose in a quarrel, offered to take him to England. He preferred, however, to go to Rome with a wood-carver named Tasso. His life from this point may be divided into three distinct periods Rome, Paris, and Florence. At Rome, where he spent twenty-two years, partly in the service of Clement VII., he distinguished himself by the execution of many little masterpieces of goldsmith's work, such as salt-cellars, candelabra, diamond settings, gold medallions worn in head-dresses, and coins for the Pope. The clasp of a cope for Julius II. is described in detail in his Memoirs; the Pope paid him 36,000 ducats for it, his only rival in this kind of work being Caradosso of Milan.

Benvenuto was present at the sack of Rome by the Constable de Bourbon in 1527, and according to his account he took an active part in the defence, commanding the artillery in the castle of St. Angelo, and discharging the gun which killed the Cardinal himself and wounded the Prince of Orange, though this latter statement is not generally believed. He should have assisted at the siege of Florence, for Orazio Baglioni, who was in command of the defending forces, appointed him captain, but he fled to Rome and accepted employment under Clement VII. He remained in Rome during the reign of Paul III., but having stabbed the goldsmith Pompeo in a fit of passion, he had to fly. The Pope, however, overlooked the crime in consideration of his great talents, but the tragic occurrence had brought him into such disfavor that he resolved to go to France. Reaching Lyons by way of Switzerland, Francois I. was glad to employ him, but falling ill, be returned once more to Rome, where he was accused of having made way with some of the jewels of the Holy See, whose settings he had melted down by order of Pope Clement VII. Though the charge was not proved, he was none the less detained for two years in the castle of St. Angelo, during which period, according to his own account, he became pious and even ascetic. He was finally pardoned through the influence of Cardinal Hippolytus of Este.

At the urgent request of Francois I. he came back to France, and from this period date those beautiful jewels, now in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre. The French king, of whom he has left a medallion, gave him, for a residence, the Hotel du Petit-Nesle, then occupied by Provost Jean d'Estouteville, and containing at the time a distillery, a printing-office, and a saltpetre manufactory. Benvenuto's description of how he took possession of it forms one of the most curious chapters in his memoirs. The provost refused to leave, and Benvenuto, always ready for a fight, armed his workmen and his two pupils, Ascanio and Paolo Romano, and laid siege to it. Among the besieged persons was a favorite of the Duchesse d'Etampes, who espoused his quarrel, and appealed to the King for justice. A lawsuit ensued, but Cellini, without waiting for a legal decision, attacked his adversaries with the sword.

Frangois I. was an enthusiastic admirer of Cellini, and it was in France that he executed his first important piece of sculpture. This was at Fontainebleau, where he represented over the grand entrance the "Fountain of Pure Water," a nymph crowned with fruits floating upon the water, her left arm encircling the neck of an antlered stag, while the right hand rests upon a vase from which flows a stream of water, at which wild boar, deer, and hounds are drinking.

This work, which is not up to the standard of his ability, was presented to Diane de Poitiers by Henry II. after the King's death, and she had it placed above the gateway of the Chateau d'Anet, whence it was removed by M. Lenoir, at the time of the Revolution, to the Museum of the Augustine, and thence to the Renaissance Rooms in the Louvre.

The Ambras Collection at Vienna contains the celebrated salt-cellar executed for Cardinal Hippolytus of Este, and presented by him to Franqois I., being afterwards given by Charles IX. to the Archduke Ferdinand, uncle of his betrothed, the daughter of Maximilian III.

Cellini had another outburst of temper at Fontainebleau, where Francois I. asked both him and Primaticcio to prepare plans of a fountain for the gardens of a chateau ; and when the latter was entrusted with the work, Cellini threatened to kill him like a dog." Frangois I. once more overlooked the offence, but he did not make any resistance to his departure when Cardinal da Ferrara sent for him.

Cellini now proceeded to Poggio a Cajano, and presented himself to Cosimo de' Medici. He was kindly received, and told to prepare the model for a statue of Perseus, to be placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi (see the chapter on Architecture).

The account of how the statue was cast is well worth reading in Cellini's Memoirs, and the work, as already described, is the personification of a certain epoch of the Renaissance. Cellini had trouble in obtaining sufficient money to complete the group, and was involved in constant quarrels with Bandinelli, and Rocci the Duke's Majordomo. It is wonderful that one so impulsive and irritable should have had the patience to write his Memoirs as well as treatises on sculpture and goldsmiths' work. These two treatises are interesting, inasmuch as they explain to us the methods which were in use at the time ; but the Memoirs, in spite of their obvious exaggeration, are much more valuable for the light they throw upon the manners and customs of the artists of the Renaissance. This work has all the charm of a sensational novel, being a strange mixture of enthusiasm, romance, shrewd maxims, and precepts of art as professed by a great artist, interwoven with a tissue of adventures worthy of some bravo of the sixteenth century. It is infinitely superior to Bonaccorso Pitti's chronicles, and though the style is faulty, it gives a vivid and fascinating picture of the existence led by these adventurous men of genius.

He was not destitute of generosity and gratitude, recognizing the superiority of Michael Angelo and Caradosso, and adopting the six children of his widowed sister, Liberata Tassi. He was a poet, too, and wrote several sonnets, madrigals, sacred hymns, love sonnets, and satires.

He fell ill in December,1570, and died on the 13th of the following February, leaving his fortune to his wife and three children. He was honored with a public funeral, and buried in the vaults of the SS. Annunziata, under the chapter-house.

It has been the custom to regard Benvenuto as only a skilful goldsmith who had a talent for combining gold with enamel and precious stones, and of so producing very tasteful compositions, but he possessed genuine ability as a sculptor, and only needed an opportunity to show of what he was capable.