Cellini, Benvenuto

My Life (Oxford World's Classics)

"Men like Benvenuto, unique in their profession, need not be subject to the law."
--Pope Paul III on learning that Cellini had murdered a fellow artist
Benvenuto Cellini was beloved in Renaissance Florence. A renowned sculptor and goldsmith whose works include the famous salt-cellar made for the King of France, and the statue of Perseus with the head of the Medusa, Cellini's life was as vivid and enthralling as his creations. A man of action as well as an artist, he took part in the Sack of Rome in 1527; he was temperamental, passionate, and conceited, capable of committing criminal acts ranging from brawling and sodomy to theft and murder. He numbered among his patrons popes and kings and members of the Medici family, and his autobiography is a fascinating account of sixteenth-century Italy and France written with all the verve of a novel.
This new translation, which captures the freshness and vivacity of the original, is based on the latest critical edition. It examines in detail the central event in Cellini's narrative, the casting of the statue of Perseus.

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics)

1910. Harvard Classics, Volume 31. Edited by Charles W. Eliot. An excellent translation of the honest, if self-aggrandized life of the epitomal sixteenth-century Renaissance man. It ranks among the greatest autobiographies ever written.

The gentlewoman, also slightly blushing, said: You know well that I want you to serve me; and reaching me the lily, told me to take it away; and gave me besides twenty golden crowns which she had in her bag, and added: Set me the jewel after the fashion you have sketched, and keep for me the old gold in which it is now set. On this the Roman lady observed: If I were in that young mans body, I should go off without asking leave. Madonna Porzia replied that virtues rarely are at home with vices, and that if I did such a thing, I should strongly belie my good looks of an honest man.

Benvenuto Cellini: Sexuality, Masculinity, and Artistic Identity in Renaissance Italy

Cellini

Cellini and the Principles of Sculpture

Benvenuto Cellini is an incomparable source on the nature of artmaking in sixteenth century Italy. A practicing artist who worked in gold, bronze, marble, as well as on paper, he was also the author of treatises, discourses, poems and letters about his own work and the works of contemporaries. By examining how Cellini and those around him viewed the act of sculpture in the late Renaissance, Michael Cole demonstrates his continuing relevance to the broader study of artistic theory and practice in his time.

Benvenuto Cellini is an incomparable source on the nature of artmaking in sixteenth century Italy. A practicing artist who worked in gold, bronze, marble, and on paper, he was also the author of treatises, discourses, poems and letters about his own work and the works of contemporaries. By examining how Cellini and those around him viewed the act of sculpture in the late Renaissance, Michael Cole demonstrates Cellini's continuing relevance to the broader study of artistic theory and practice in his time.

Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

The life of Benvenuto Cellini

An autobiography of the Florentine artist, fully illustrated with 28 pen and ink drawings and many contemporary portraits. Cellini was more of a craftsman than an artist, yet, apart from the Perseus, Nymph of Fountainebleau, Escurial Crucifix and the Viennese Salt Cellar, there are very few authentic pieces of Cellini's craftsmanship. This translation is Cellini's own account of his life.

Autobiography (World's great classics)

The marble portrait of Cosimo I de' Medici by Cellini in San Francisco

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was an Italian goldsmith, painter, sculptor, soldier and musician of the Renaissance. This is his autobiography.