| Few men have lived life as full as late | | | | divine Michel Agnolo [sic] finished the |
| Italian Renaissance mannerist artist, | | | | Sistine Chapel ceiling, his genius never |
| Benvenuto Cellini. Born in 1500, Cellini | | | | returned to its previous level in later life. |
| would be thrilled that we still talk about | | | | Looking at the sketch Torrigiano told Cellini |
| his life five hundred years after his birth. | | | | the story of how he had broken the nose of |
| After all, that is what he intended. That is | | | | Michelangelo as a boy. Cellini already |
| why he began his autobiography at the age of | | | | idolized Michelangelo by this time and |
| fifty-eight, confident that history would | | | | disliked Torrigiano thereafter, but it is |
| remember him. And remember him we do, not | | | | from the autobiography of Cellini that we |
| only as a master goldsmith and sculptor, but | | | | know this story. |
| as an author who wrote one of the most | | | | |
| significant documents of the sixteenth | | | | The exploits of Cellini are too numerous to |
| century. | | | | relate. If the papal and civil authorities |
| | | | who encountered the arrogant and explosive |
| Cellini began his riveting tale by advising | | | | artist kept rap sheets, Cellini would have a |
| other potential authors on how to write their | | | | long one. He finally made it to Rome, where |
| own autobiographies, first by informing their | | | | he engaged in an altercation with a young man |
| readers that they come from worthy stock and | | | | whom he struck. The punishment being less |
| ancient origin. While most of us cannot claim | | | | stringent for delivering a slap rather than a |
| to know our maternal grandparents twice | | | | blow, Cellini told the magistrates he only |
| removed, Cellini mentioned his parents, then | | | | gave a slap, however, he was the only one |
| went on to claim descent from an Italian man | | | | punished and ordered to pay a fine. |
| from a nearby town, Fioreno of Cellino, a | | | | |
| captain in the guard of Julius Caesar sixteen | | | | Angered by this turn of events, Cellini went |
| hundred years past. | | | | that night to the home of his tormentor where |
| | | | he stabbed him with a knife. Fleeing the |
| This Fioreno, Cellini claimed, camped his | | | | scene, he encountered twelve family members |
| troops on the site of Florence with its | | | | of the young man who, according to Cellini, |
| fields of flowers, so Caesar named the place | | | | set upon him with an iron shovel, an iron |
| Florence partly for the flowers and partly to | | | | pipe, an anvil, hammers and cudgels. A mighty |
| honor his captain. Most historians believe | | | | battle ensued with Cellini wielding his |
| Florence, Florentia in Roman times, was named | | | | knife, and afterward, the twelve searched |
| after the Roman festival of Floralia or Ludi | | | | among their dead and wounded only to find |
| Florales to honor Flora, the goddess of | | | | that, strangely, there were no dead and |
| flowers. However, neither Caesar nor Flora | | | | wounded. No one sustained any injuries except |
| was present to contradict the account of | | | | for the first man Cellini stabbed in the |
| Cellini, so his version stands, at least in | | | | house. After such a story, it is not |
| his own mind. | | | | surprising then that Cellini claimed credit |
| | | | for his single-handed defense of Castle of |
| Commenting further on how pleased God was at | | | | San Angelo during the sack of Rome in 1526 as |
| his birth, Cellini told how he got his | | | | though no other defenders were needed. |
| name--Benvenuto means welcome in Italian. | | | | |
| While the musical name Benvenuto Cellini | | | | Kings, dukes, and popes sought out Cellini |
| flows off the tongue with a satisfying | | | | for his exquisite craftsmanship, while |
| feeling, Cellini rejected the career advice | | | | villains, thieves, and necromancers knew him |
| of his father that he become a great musician | | | | for far less noble purposes. The colorful |
| and composer. Unmindful that his flute | | | | exploits of Cellini chronicle the flavor of |
| playing sent his doting father into sighing, | | | | Italian Renaissance life with his unique |
| tearful ecstasy, Cellini forsook the hated | | | | perspective. If his account is true, it is |
| flute to study as a goldsmith--and thus his | | | | surprising that Cellini had time for art. He |
| adventures began. | | | | died in Florence in 1571 at the age of 71 |
| | | | leaving behind a magnificent legacy of work. |
| Angered by his father at the age of sixteen | | | | |
| Cellini left Florence for Rome, stopping by | | | | Still in the news, Cellini's grandiose gold |
| way of Lucca and Pisa. In Pisa he found a | | | | and enamel saltcellar executed in 1540 for |
| goldsmith willing to take him in as an | | | | the King of France and valued today at |
| apprentice. Returning to Florence for a brief | | | | $60,000,000 was recovered recently after |
| visit, he met Italian sculptor, Piero | | | | being stolen from a museum in Vienna. The art |
| Torrigiano. Showing a sketch he had drawn | | | | world continues to appreciate the work of |
| from copying the work of Michelangelo for the | | | | Cellini, even if he does tell us himself of |
| Florentine Signoria (The Battle of Cascina), | | | | his greatness. No one blows his own horn |
| he confided to Torrigiano that while the | | | | louder than Benvenuto Cellini. |