Het leven van Benvenuto Cellini: door hemzelf verteld

by Benvenuto Cellini, Corinne van Schendel (Translator), Henriëtte van Dam van Isselt (Translator)

Tussen de jaartallen 1500 en 1571 ligt een van de meest verbazingwekkende levens van de Renaissance besloten. In 1500 namelijk werd Benvenuto Cellini te Florence geboren. Na een bewogen jeugd en een bestaan dat gedurende meer dan een halve eeuw overvol was met 'het maken van mijn kunst', met ontmoetingen met de grootsten van zijn tijd, met moord, doodslag en gevangenschap, met al dan niet getolereerde erotische avonturen, met rijkdom en armoede kwam hij, tenslotte, tot het schrijven van een uniek boek - zijn Vita, een van de merkwaardigste, sprankelendste autobiografieën uit de wereldliteratuur. Cellini was, als goudsmid en beeldhouwer, een gerespecteerd kunstenaar. Als mens was hij een vat vol tegenstrijdigheden en zijn leven lang heeft hij heftige conflicten gekend, met vorsten, pausen en kardinalen zo goed ais met collega's, buren en hoeren. Zijn passie voor jeugdige knapen is meer dan eens de oorzaak geweest van een gerechtelijk vonnis. Als gevolg van zo'n veroordeling heeft Cellini gedurende lange tijd huisarrest gehad en in die periode, hij liep tegen de zestig, is hij begonnen zijn levensverhaal aan een leerling te dicteren. Het is niet moeilijk al lezend een grijze, gebaarde man te zien, in zijn atelier, boetserend, tekenend, een juweel ciselerend. Onderhand praat hij - over de krenterigheid van hertog Cosimo, over de keizerlijke opperbevelhebber die hij tijdens de plundering van Rome neerschoot, over paus Paulus III's onverhulde nepotisme, over de gramstorige maîtresse van Frans I, over 'onze beroemde Florentijnse school', over gesprekken met Michelangelo, over een edelman die dacht dat hij een vleermuis was, over de geslaagde travestie van een jonge vriend. Het hoogtepunt vormt, net als in Berlioz' opera Buenvenuto Cellini, het gieten van zijn kolossale beeld Perscus. De krachttoer mislukt bijna...

Genres: Biography, History, Art, Nonfiction, Classics, Italy, Autobiography

611 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1558

About the author

Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the Cellini Salt Cellar, the sculpture of Perseus with the Head of Medusa, and his autobiography, which has been described as "one of the most important documents of the 16th century".

Reviews

[Fionnuala]

E. M. Forster sets a crucial chapter of A Room with a View in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Forster's heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, witnesses a trivial but fatal dispute between two men in which knives are instantly drawn. Lucy, an Edwardian girl full of sensibility, is horrified by the blood gushing from the mouth of the dying man and falls in a swoon. Fortunately there is a michaelangelesque character standing nearby, ready to catch her in his powerful arms.

I was in Florence when I was reading Forster's novel so I took a walk around the Piazza della Signoria soon after I'd read the episode of the knife fight, trying to imagine the scene. According to Forster, Lucy was standing by the Neptune Fountain. On Lucy's right-hand side would have been the various statues that still stand in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and along the side of the Uffizi Gallery: Michaelangelo's enormous David with his powerful arm raised, coolly estimating the best angle from which to fling his stone at Goliath; Baccio Bandinelli's colossal Hercules, brutally beating his enemy Cacus with a club; Donatello's Judith holding the bloodied body of Holofernes; and several other large marble pieces, all depicting violent scenes. But among all that monumental marble, one piece of statuary stands out: a relatively small bronze figure with a sword in his hand. This is Perseus trampling the body of the Medusa while triumphantly raising the severed head high in the air. The bronze is remarkable for many reasons but in particular for the way the stream of blood gushes from the head. I think E. M. Forster must have stood exactly where I was standing when he first imagined that scene, and must have had the Perseus in mind.
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That wasn't my first visit to the Piazza. I had walked around that area on my first day in Florence and had already been impressed by the bronze Perseus not only because of the contrast with the other statues but because of the finesse of the figure. It truly is a beautiful piece of work though slightly less than life-size. Very few tourists stopped to look at it when I was there; the much more celebrated David garners all the attention.
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I started Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography about a week before my trip to Florence, hoping to get a flavor of the Renaissance city from a contemporary account. Cellini was born in Florence in 1500 so his life spanned three-quarters of the famous century. He tells us that he was apprenticed to a goldsmith at a young age and that he worked on commissions for many powerful people. His early work was carried out mainly for the Medici family in Florence, but after a dispute in which he killed a man, he was obliged to flee the city. He wasn't yet twenty.

After that unfortunate episode, Cellini set out for Rome where he worked for the Medici pope, Leo X, and for Leo's successor and cousin, Giulio de' Medici, who became pope in 1523 and who commissioned Michaelangelo to paint 'The Last Judgement' in the Sistine Chapel around the same time.

As well as setting jewels and minting coins for the pope, Cellini served as a soldier during the Sack of Rome in 1527 and later spent time as a prisoner in the Castel Sant'Angelo for knifing a man in a dispute; he'd made many enemies in Rome by then. He escaped from the Castello in a dramatic escapade which involved knotted bedsheets and a broken leg, and took refuge in France in the court of François I. The French King had welcomed Leonardo da Vinci some years before when he too had run out of friends in Italy. Cellini spent quite a few years in France in the King's service, working on small decorative objects in gold and silver such as tableware, jewelry, and commemorative coins and medals.
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By the time I reached Florence, I was two thirds of the way through Benvenuto Cellini's excellent account of his life, and though I enjoyed reading about his adventures, I despaired of him ever returning to his native city. I half wished I'd chosen a book about someone who'd spent more of his life in the Tuscan capital, and was glad I'd taken Forster's book along since it, at least, was set in Florence.

Cellini was forty-five at this point in his tumultuous career, and was making as many enemies in France as he'd made in Italy. He had also fallen out with the King over the terms of his contract so, much to my relief, he turned his horse in the direction of Italy hoping to regain the patronage of his first employers, the Florentine Medicis.

Benvenuto and I were now finally in the same place.

Cellini's return to his native city reawakened his early but as yet unrealized ambition: he'd worked as a goldsmith most of his life but he longed to produce a work on a larger scale so when Duke Pier Luigi de' Medici asked about his projects, Cellini answered that he "would willingly make a great statue in marble or bronze for his fine piazza." The Duke decided that he would like a statue of Perseus, in bronze.

I read that passage the evening after I arrived in Florence, and the very day I'd seen the Perseus statue in the Piazza Della Signoria for the first time. There is no plaque on the statue, nothing to indicate who created it, so discovering that the statue that had entranced me was by Cellini was a truly extraordinary moment. Reading has few greater pleasures.
While I'd expected to see small objects by Cellini in gold and silver in the museum, I'd never expected him to have produced a statue in bronze. The description of the casting of the Perseus is by far the most interesting chapter in the autobiography - I'd recommend this book for that section alone. One of the challenges was heating the alloy sufficiently so that it would flow all the way along the upraised arm of the mould and into the severed head. The parallels between the blood pouring from the Medusa's head and the liquid alloy are hard to ignore - the streams of blood would have been the most difficult area for the molten bronze to reach. But Cellini was always motivated by challenges and used all his ingenuity to overcome such difficulties.
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However, the newly minted sculptor wasn't satisfied with a commission for a work in bronze; he longed to work in marble. From then on, he put himself forward for any of the Medici commissions involving marble; he was determined to compete with the major Florentine sculptors of the day, Bartolomeo Ammanato and Baccio Bandinelli. When the Duke was planning the enormous Neptune for the fountain in the Piazza della Signoria, the exact location of Forster's dramatic scene, Cellini submitted a design. The Duke gave the commission to Ammanato.
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However, it was Baccio Bandinelli, who had created the Hercules and Cacus sculpture on the Piazza in 1535, who became Cellini's greatest rival during subsequent marble commissions. Cellini rarely praises the work of other artists, with the exception of Michaelangelo Buonarroti, but he is particularly critical of Bandinelli's Hercules, as he tells the Duke:
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'...if you were to shave off Hercules's hair, there wouldn't be any noddle left to hold the brains; and as for his face, one can't tell whether it's a man's or that of some cross between a lion and an ox...moreover, its great hideous shoulders are like nothing so much as two pommels of an ass's pack-saddle; and the breasts and all the muscles are not modelled from a man, but from a great sack of melons.."
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In spite of Cellini's best efforts, Bandinelli retained the Duke's favour but Cellini received three commissions for works in marble after his rival's sudden death: a Narcissus and a Ganymede, both done in the late 1540s, and an Apollo with Hyacinth from 1550. He also made a Christ figure in marble for the Duke's wife.
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Around this time, Cellini turned his attention to investing his earnings and acquiring property; he had fallen out of favor with the Medicis in any case and received no more commissions.
He began writing his autobiography in 1558 and continued until 1565 when he embarked on a Treatise on Goldsmithing and Sculpture. He died in 1571.
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I crossed the famous Ponte Vecchio which spans the Arno several times during my stay in Florence. It was there that Forster's heroine Lucy was taken to recover from the trauma of seeing so much blood spilled on the Piazza. Today, it's a frantically busy place full of vendors and tourists, the kind of place I tend to hurry through, so it wasn't until the final day of my Florence visit that I noticed the commemorative bust at one end of the bridge.
I stepped closer to see who was represented there: none other than Benvenuto Cellini.
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[William2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cellini was a goldsmith and sculptor of genius and little of his work survives today. Perseus with the Head of Medusa, the bronze sculpture he made in 1545, being a stunning exception. Precious metals tend to be melted down, especially in times of strife. One of the text's greatest pleasures, therefore, is Cellini's description of his works and his painstaking process of making them. This is truly a book of an artist of exquisite talent and his work plans. Were it not for this text we would know little of the larger body of his work, since, as I've said, so few examples survive.

This praise aside, one is tempted to label this memoir auto-hagiography, for a lot of it is about self-promotion and securing the author's posthumous myth. Cellini's self-love can overwhelm; he has no gift for humility. But the fact remains that the book's also highly readable. Readable as, say, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is readable. Suddenly he's walking down the street with his mentor Michelangelo or meeting with Pope Clement—for whom he made many baubles—or manning the Castel Sant'Angelo's guns during the 1527 Sack of Rome by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

He was one of those people who liked making enemies. By tearing others down he'd propping himself up. Apparently his works alone were insufficient to the task of contenting him. Perhaps because producing them required such fawning acquiescence before the rich and powerful; Cellini was far too headstrong to be a courtier. When he is calumniated by a vicious Vatican courtier, who says he has gravely insulted the Pope—Farnese now not Clement—Cellini sets off to find work in France, for the Pope will no longer pay him for his baubles' true worth and he fears arrest. On this journey by horseback we glimpse the pristine countryside in 1530 or so from Grisons to Zurich, and then in and around Lausanne, Geneva and Lyons until finally—after fighting off murderous brigands—the road to Paris is open. But soon Cellini returns to his shop and boyfriends in Rome, I found the rationale for doing so unclear.

When Pope Farnese's illegitimate son, Signor Pier Luigi, calumniates Cellini—saying that during the Sack of Rome (under Clement) he stole Vatican jewelry worth 80,000 crowns—he is thrown without a hearing into prison, which turns out to be the same Castel Sant'Angelo from whose terrace he'd valiantly supervised the Church's guns during the Sack. The French king, who met Cellini in Rome, and whom Cellini has promised to come and serve for a time, tries diplomatic measures to free him and fails. Ultimately, the wily goldsmith escapes by tying together strips of bedsheets, but during the escape he breaks his leg. On all fours then, leaving a trail of blood, he crawls through the streets to a friendly Cardinal's house for sanctuary. Pleas from high society are then made to the pope on Cellini's behalf. But once again Luigi smears him with a heinous lie, more outrageous than the first, and Cellini is thrown into the Vatican's worst dungeon crawling with tarantulas and venomous worms. Now his death is eagerly sought by the pope and his henchmen. But finally the French king is victorious in his diplomacy and Cellini is almost literally spirited out of the Vatican.

The French king, Francis I, inundates Cellini with money and honors. I cannot understate how despicably corrupt the French royal court was. My God, the avarice! And naturally there were no police, no rule of law. The so called chivalrous knights were too busy shaking down the peasantry for coins. Moreover, it's the 1540s so we can hardly fault Cellini for the many unsourced scenes in which he is not present but seems to possess a verbatim transcript. Suspect too are his many speeches set before his noble patrons in which he wins the argument. Many of these speeches feel like staircase wit (Yiddish: trepverter; French: l'esprit de l'escalier), if not outright invention. But we must keep in mind that Cellini was very social. It could be that these overheard conversations, some of them, were relayed to him later by third parties. We can never really know for sure of course and this undermines credibility. That said, the autobiography remains a rare glimpse into the daily life of Renaissance Italy and has few if any textual equals, as such it compels careful reading. Highly recommended.

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

LIFE AMONGST METALS

Benvenuto Cellini (1500- 1571) was an extraordinary personality. As a goldsmith, a warrior, a musician and a writer, he certainly did not lack skills. But I shall refer to him as Benvenuto, Mister Welcome. He was named so after a wait of eighteen years by his parents, but if he becomes congenial to us also it is because after reading his memoirs one feels so much closer to him. He started writing his Life at the age of fifty-eight but he ended it abruptly, for unknown reasons, about five years later. It was not his death that halted it.

To situate Benvenuto well and clearly in his times it is apt to remember that he was an exact contemporary of the Emperor Charles V but died at an older age (by about twenty three years). This will help in realizing that the Emperor together with this dialectical nemesis, the King of France Francis I, changed the map of forces in the Italian peninsula. Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples gravitated around these two foreign monarchs during a good part of the sixteenth century.



Following his peripatetic life we see that he witnessed it all. Benvenuto welcomed and embraced his age in all its expansion and destruction. He was there in the middle of the imbroglio and he played not just the flute, but also a part in the determinant political and artistic events. With his bloody and treasured metals and precious stones he served the Medici pope, Clement VII. During the Sack of Rome, Benvenuto, from the tower of Sant’Angelo and while melting the pope’s jewels from the Apostolic Camera to save the gold, shot with his falconet the very Prince of Orange. He had also served the attacker, Charles V, with his exquisite creations, but claimed to have killed one of his militant arms, the Duke of Bourbon. Later he served Francis I, and his lover the Duchesse d’Étampes. He leaves us a disparaged and amusing image of this woman, while he left in Fontainebleau some of his preciosities. Amongst others, he had managed to convince the French Monarch of the beauty of his Salt Cellar, the Saliera, one of Benvenuto’s most famous concoctions and which previous patrons had failed to realize its exquisiteness.



He served Duke Alessandro de Medici, and his version of Lorenzaccio, the cousin who killed the Duke, is not like the romanticized interpretation of the Romantic Alfred de Musset, who got the inspiration of his play during his romance with George Sand. Indeed, Benvenuto is the source of the revelation (gossip?) for historians that this Medici was the illegitimate son of the Pope Clement. Benvenuto also served the Grand Duke of the Medici, Cosimo the First who was not the first of the Medici Cosimos. Whirling in this court, in which the Duchess Eleanor of Toledo gave free rein to her addiction to luxury, was a fruitful (and dangerous) enterprise.

Reading this biography one cannot believe one’s eyes and that this book actually exists and how lucky we are to have it. It is such a treat to handle a primary source that is as enthralling and entertaining and action-packed as a novel by Dumas père. For a reader now, familiar with the uncanny tricks of Modernism, Benvenuto’s visions and accounts of miracles seem almost a parody of Dante and his Paradiso. This version however, instead of ecstasy, elicits merriment. For a reader now, his occasional bloody brutality can only seem repugnant. But we have to remember that for a man of his period, to walk around with one’s sword hanging from the belt or the dagger concealed in the leg was as necessary for positioning oneself in the world as it is for us now to carry a mobile phone. For a reader now, his views of women can also repel, but for a reader now, his views of young men would seem liberating.



For his boasted life was full of all kinds of arts, the art of the precious object and the stunning sculpture; the art of promoting himself (is there a more effective practice of representation?); the art of killing the enemy or the art of defending one’s life. And in no life as in Benvenuto’s do we see so ironically how metals and precious stones can be so dangerous. Like a cat of many lives he survived, amongst other attempts, one in which he was made to swallow pulverized diamonds.

Dante’s Contrapasso or sculptural Contrapposto shake hands in these memoirs.

His views on art and craftsmanship are fascinating too. He grew artistically under the shadow of his master Michelangelo, but he vilified Bandinelli. He was then clairvoyant, for it seems that Florentines now disparage over the presence of the latter’s Hercules and Cacus in the Piazza della Signoria. But most important, we have to be aware of the rarity of having a direct account on the difficulty in the actual making of some of the art works whose existence we take for granted. We follow with great suspense when Benvenuto finally casts out his Perseus with a similar triumphal gesture as that displayed by his creation. Perseus holds out the severed head of the Medusa. Benvenuto held out his Perseus for posterity to behold.



But to me it was his layers of humour, with his insistent persistence on the veracity of his claims, that have made some of his quotes so memorable:

.. Without further provocation he retorted that I was a donkey; whereupon I said that he was not speaking the truth; that I was a better man than he in every respect, but that if he kept on irritating me I would give him harder kicks than any donkey could.

In this account, and thanks to the electrifying conductivity of Cellini’s life written out of the materials he handled so well, we have been bequeathed with a scintillating conduit to the first half of the 16C in Italy.


Violent Metals - Precious Life. Precious Metals - Violent Life.

[Roy Lotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

All men of whatsoever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, or which may properly resemble excellence, ought, if they be persons of truth and honesty, to describe their life with their own hand

Why we like or dislike someone, why we admire or despise them, why we are happy or annoyed by their conversation, are questions more difficult than they look. After reading this book, for example, I have grown quite enamored of Benvenuto Cellini, even though he had many ugly sides to his character—besides being criminally immoral. These flaws were unmistakable and impossible to ignore; and yet he had one quality that allowed me, and has allowed many others, to grow fond of him nevertheless: charisma.

Born in Florence in 1500, Benvenuto Cellini was a goldsmith and a sculptor, considered one of the most important artists of Mannerism. During his lifetime he traveled all around Italy and France, making rings, necklaces, salt shakers, statues, fountains, buttons, lapels, and coins for rich and powerful patrons. Perhaps his most famous work is the statue of Perseus standing over the body of Medusa, her bloody head held aloft in his hand, which can be found in Florence. As far as I know, the only work of his I have personally seen is his fine crucifix in the Escorial near Madrid. (Since writing this, I've seen both the Perseus statue in Flornece and his famous salt-cellar in Vienna, both exceptional.) But despite Cellini being, to quote his book, “the greatest artist ever born in his craft,” he is nowadays mostly remembered for his autobiography, which is without doubt the most important work of its kind from the Renaissance.

Cellini wrote his autobiography in a simple, matter-of-fact style. His main focus was on his development and career as an artist, but he also relates many stories from his personal life along the way. And from this narration emerges a remarkable portrait of the man himself.

The most conspicuous part of Cellini’s character is his arrogance. He says near the beginning “in a work like this there will always be found occasion for natural bragging,” but occasional is hardly a fitting description of his boasting. Every page is stuffed with self-praise. He compliments himself for his robust constitution, his strong body, his keen mind, his kind nature, his skill in combat, and most of all his artistic prowess. The only artist he thinks equal to himself is Michelangelo, and with few exceptions he considers his rivals to be incompetent dunces, or worse.

It does not take shrewd judgment to read between the lines of this autobiography. Cellini only admits to being in the wrong once in his life. (After taking sexual advantage of one of his models, he viciously beat her. He felt guilty because the day before he had forced her at gunpoint to marry her lover. The next day, he beat her up again.) Other than this, Cellini would have you believe he is a decent, honest, respectful man and that all his enemies were motivated by jealousy or pure wickedness. And yet, the speed and consistency with which he finds himself surrounded by enemies, and the frequency with which he gets into disputes and fights, makes it painfully clear that he must have been a bellicose and infuriating fellow.

The degree to which Cellini was blind to his faults is both terrifying and oddly endearing. That someone could be so unconcerned with the morality of his actions or with the justice of his behavior is an instructive lesson in human nature. (And that he is still likable is another lesson.) Cellini narrates the vilest deeds in such a mundane tone that you almost forget what he is talking about. Here is Benvenuto’s forth murder, the killing of Pompeo, a rival goldsmith:

I drew a little dagger with a sharpened edge, and breaking the line of his defenders, laid my hand upon his breast so quickly and coolly, that none of them were able to prevent me. Then I aimed to strike him in the face; but fright made him turn his head round; and I stabbed him just beneath the ear. I only gave two blows, for he fell stone dead by the second. I had not meant to kill him; but as the saying goes, knocks are not dealt by measure.

(Besides the tone of that passage, the most amazing thing for me is that he aimed for Pompeo’s head but professed he didn’t mean to kill him. The guy was seriously nuts.)

When I reread the above excerpt, I think I ought to loathe such a man, who can both commit a murder and then talk about it so coolly. But Cellini’s ego and his personality are so exaggerated that I have trouble thinking of him as a real person. With all his misadventures, crimes, vanities, boasts, and disputes, he seems more like a character invented by Dickens or Cervantes than a man I can identify with. In this, I couldn’t help being reminded of Trump, who is relentlessly egotistical and cruel, but who escapes normal consequences because he seems more like a caricature than a human being.

Because Cellini is focused on his own doings, the world of the Renaissance stays mostly in the background. Sometimes it is easy to forget the setting entirely, since Benvenuto is one of those rare, timeless personalities. But at other times, the great difference between his world and mine was simply alarming.

One night during dinner, for example, his friend brought a prostitute; out of respect for his friend, Benvenuto refused her advances; but after those two went to bed, Benvenuto seduced the prostitute’s 14-year-old serving girl. The next morning he woke up with the bubonic plague. Another time, when he was sick, the best doctors in Rome instructed him that he couldn’t drink any water. His condition got worse and worse—doubtless due to dehydration—until finally, disobeying their orders, he drank a pitcher of water and felt immediately better. The doctors were stunned. The doctors had better luck on another occasion, though. When Benvenuto got a metal splinter in his eye, a doctor successfully flushed it out by slicing open live pigeons and letting their blood rush into his eye.

These are just a taste of some of Benvenuto’s anecdotes. His life was enviously exciting—indeed it’s rather amazing he lived so long, since he had many close calls with death. When he wasn’t being poisoned or fighting off highway bandits, he was suffering illness, injury, and imprisonment. And amidst all this, he managed to attain the highest reputation and skill as an artist, and also to write the most important autobiography of his century. If being a Renaissance Man means living life to the fullest, Cellini is a prime example.

If you are planning on taking a trip to Italy, or just want to learn more about the Renaissance, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I listened to the audiobook version while I was in Rome. Cellini was narrating the time he defended the Castel Sant'Angelo during the 1527 sack of Rome. As Cellini boasted about his heroic deeds—he would have you believe he defended the castle single-handedly—I turned a corner and found myself face to face with that very castle. It was one of the most memorable moments of my reading life.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

"All men who have accomplished anything worthwhile should set down the story of their own lives with their own hands. But they should wait before undertaking so delicate an enterprise until they have passed the age of 40," says Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) in the opening chapter of this book, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini first published in Italy in 1728. This is one of the earliest classic autobiographies in the world eclipsed only by the likes of Saint Augustine's Confessions (3 stars), Babur's The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince Emperor and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian artist who became a friend to Leonardo de Vinci (1452-1519) and Michaelangelo (1475-1564). These are reasons enough for me to pick this book in a second-hand bookstore a couple of years back. Well, aside from the fact that this is included in the 501 Must-Read Books, I enjoy reading memoirs and autobiographies especially those of world-renowned personalities but for some reason, not known to me. Cellini was 58 years old when he wrote this memoir or autobiography and first I thought it would be a difficult read but the edition was really easy to understand and because of the many interesting events that happened in Cellini's life and his tongue-in-cheek (meaning, candid and honest) telling of his life, the book is engaging and definitely worth reading. Imagine Cellini even exposed himself in telling the murder that he committed despite the fact that he was a religious person. The other interesting part of this book is the supernatural experience that he had while imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo in Rome.

In particular, this autobiography should be a must-read book for anybody who is interested on renaissance art because it reads like a who's who of that world. Cellini was a goldsmith and a sculptor although his only popular sculptor is the bronze statue of Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa and it looks like this:

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of name dropping and talking himself up, which is a bit annoying, but there's also a lot of risks given the time and place he's writing. Maybe an early example of autofiction, considering that I kind of think he doesn't actually expect you to believe certain details? Like how the murder he admits to just luckily takes place while Rome is transitioning to a new pope, who is tradition-bound to issue a general amnesty/pardoning. Also I didn't understand enough about metalworking to enjoy those bits.

Favourite bits:

I took the vase along to Salamanca and he decided to have it valued. Lucagnolo took part in the valuation, and he put a higher price on it and praised it far more than I would have done. Then Salamanca took hold of the vase and like a typical Spaniard said: ‘I swear to God that I’ll take as long to pay him as he took over making it.’

When I heard this I found myself in a very nasty frame of mind, cursing all Spain and anyone who stood When I heard this I found myself in a very nasty frame of mind, cursing all Spain and anyone who stood up for the country.

About that time, when I was still only a young man of around twenty-three, a plague broke out in Rome and raged so fiercely that every day many thousands died of it. This frightened me a little, and I began to seek relief in a sport that I found very enjoyable. But there was a reason for this that I shall tell you about. It happened in this way. On feast days I used to love going along to study the ancient buildings, and I used to make copies of them, sometimes in wax and sometimes on paper. These buildings are all broken down, and the ruins shelter a vast number of pigeons. I felt the urge to have a shot at some of them, so because of my fear of the plague and to avoid the risk of contagion, I used to get my Paulino to carry the gun and he and I would go off by ourselves to the ruins.

Many a time we used to come back laden with some very plump pigeons. I did not like loading my gun with more than a single ball, so my successful hunting was the result of really good marksmanship. I had a straight fowling-piece made by myself, so bright that it shone outside and in just like a mirror. I also manufactured my own gunpowder, discovering the most wonderful secrets that are still unknown to anyone else. But in order not to digress too long, I shall give just one instance in the connexion that will flabbergast anyone who knows something about the matter. This is it. When I charged my gun with powder, a fifth of the weight of the ball, the shot carried two hundred yards point-blank.

Although the great pleasure I found in these expeditions threatened to draw me away from my trade and my studies – and in fact it did so – in another way it gave me much more than it took, because every time I went hunting my health improved remarkably from the invigorating fresh air.

I have a naturally melancholy disposition, but on these trips I used to grow very light-hearted, and found myself working better and more skilfully than when I spent all my time studying and working. So all in all my gun brought me more gain than loss. Besides this, it was the cause of my becoming friendly with some antique-collectors who hung around the Lombard peasants when they made their seasonal visit to Rome to dig the vineyards. While they were digging these peasants were always finding ancient medals and agates, chrysoprases, cornelians, and cameos, and also precious stones, like emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, and rubies. The collectors were sometimes able to buy these from the peasants for a few coins. And sometimes – in fact quite often – when I met these collectors I gave them, for what they had, more than as many gold crowns as they had paid giulios.

These transactions, without taking into account the great profit I made which was easily tenfold, also helped me establish good relations with nearly every cardinal in Rome. I shall just mention one of the most outstanding and rare of these treasures. Among many other things there fell into my hands a dolphin’s head, about the size of one of those big beans used for voting. The head was exquisitely cut, but Nature showed her superiority to art in the magnificence of the emerald itself. Its colour was such that the man who bought it from me for a few dozen crowns had it set, like an ordinary gem, in a ring, and then sold it for hundreds.

The whole month that we were besieged in the castle I was actively engaged on the guns. This led to all sorts of happenings, all of which are worth the telling; but as I must not write too much and do not want to be too detailed about matters that do not concern my own profession, I shall leave most of them out and only describe the one I must – the few that are most remarkable.

This is the first. One day Messer Antonio Santa Croce had me come down from the Angel so that I could fire on some houses near the castle that a number of the enemy had entered. While I was firing a cannon shot hurtled towards me. But as it struck a corner of the battlement, carrying away a great section of it, I escaped harm. The masonry crashed down and hit me in the chest. With the breath knocked out of me, stretched out on the ground as if I were dead, I could hear all that the people standing round were saying. In his grief, Antonio Santa Croce was crying: ‘Oh, now we’ve lost the greatest support we had.’

All this tumult drew in our direction a companion of mine, called Gianfrancesco the Fifer. Despite his name he was much more skilled in medicine than in music. He saw what had happened, and ran off at once crying for a flask of the best Greek wine. Then he heated a tile till it was red-hot, put a good handful of wormwood on it, and started sprinkling the wine on top. When the herbs were well soaked, he at once pressed them on my chest, where the bruise could be clearly seen. The wormwood was so efficacious that it immediately brought me back to life. I tried to say something but found it impossible, as some stupid young soldiers had stuffed my mouth with earth in the belief that they were giving me communion: as far as my life was concerned they had very nearly excommunicated me. I had a job to recover and the earth did me more harm All this tumult drew in our direction a companion of mine, called Gianfrancesco the Fifer. Despite his name he was much more skilled in medicine than in music. He saw what had happened, and ran off at once crying for a flask of the best Greek wine. Then he heated a tile till it was red-hot, put a good handful of wormwood on it, and started sprinkling the wine on top. When the herbs were well soaked, he at once pressed them on my chest, where the bruise could be clearly seen. The wormwood was so efficacious that it immediately brought me back to life. I tried to say something but found it impossible, as some stupid young soldiers had stuffed my mouth with earth in the belief that they were giving me communion: as far as my life was concerned they had very nearly excommunicated me. I had a job to recover and the earth did me more harm than the blow I received. Having escaped that accident I went back to the fury of the guns, applying myself with unimaginable energy and zeal.

While I was engaged on this devilish business some of the cardinals who were in the castle used to come along to watch me, especially the Cardinals Ravenna and de’ Gaddi. I kept telling these two not to come too near me, as their nasty red birettas could be seen a long way off and in consequence we were in great danger from neighbouring buildings like the Torre de’ Bini. At long last I had them kept in, and as a result I made bitter enemies of them.

One day the Pope happened to be walking along round the keep when he noticed in Prati a Spanish officer who had once been in his service and whom he recognized from certain characteristics that he had. As he was staring down at him he started to talk about the man. Meanwhile, knowing nothing about all this, I merely looked down from the top of the Angel and noticed that there was someone directing the digging of trenches. He had a lance in his hand and was dressed in a rose-coloured uniform. I began to wonder how I could get at him, took one of the falconets that was near me – the falconet is bigger and longer than the swivel gun and very like a demi-culverin – cleared it, and then loaded with a hefty charge of fine powder, mixed with coarse. I aimed carefully at the man who was dressed in red, elevating the gun way up in the air, as he was too far away for me to be sure of accuracy with a gun of that kind. Then I fired and hit him exactly in the middle.

With typical Spanish swagger he was wearing his sword across his front. The result was that the shot struck the sword and cut him in two. The Pope who was taken by surprise was astonished and delighted, but he found it impossible to understand how a gun could be fired accurately at such range, or how on earth the man could have been cut in two. So he sent for me and asked me to explain.

I told him how painstaking I had been in aiming the gun, and as for why he was cut in two, I said that neither he nor I could ever understand. And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign of the cross above my head, and said that he gave me his blessing and that he forgave me all the homicides I had ever committed and all those I ever would commit in the service of the Apostolic Church.

The necromancer at the colosseum and the insane bat castellan and evil lutheran monk are all great bits, but too long to quote here.

Wish he'd met Ariosto, my favourite guy from that time period in Italy. He name drops everyone else, including Ariosto's d'Este sponsor.

[Catherine Vamianaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ο Cellini γεννήθηκε το 1500 και πέθανε το 1571. Ηταν γλυπτης ζωγράφος μουσικός χρυσοχοος στρατιώτης κτλ. Αρχισε την αυτοβιογραφια του το 1558. Με την αφήγηση του, μαθαίνουμε πως ήταν η ζωή τότε στην Ιταλία.
Δούλεψε για Πάπες Καρδιναλιους Δουκες και Βασιλείς. Τον εμπιστευντουσαν διότι έκανε θαύματα μαζί με τους βοηθούς του. Στα πρωτα κεφαλαια μου εκανε εντύπωση η στενή σχέση με τον πατέρα του. Η υπερβολική αγάπη του πατερα προς γιο και φυσικά ο Benvenuto του ειχε μεγάλη αγ��πη.
Τα έργα του γνωστά και πολλά. Αξίζει να αναφέρω τον Περσέα με την Μέδουσα που βρίσκεται στην Πιατσα Ντε Λα Σινιορια της Φλωρεντίας. Η περίφημη Αλατιερα και τόσα άλλα έργα. Αντιμετώπισε πολλές δυσκολίες κάθε φορά που ξεκινούσε κάποιο έργο. Είχε πολλούς αντιπάλους. Κάποια στιγμή φυλακίστηκε για περισσότερο απο ενα χρόνο. Διαβάζοντας αυτό το βιβλίο μέσα απο τις διηγήσεις του μαθαίνουμε την αγάπη του για την δουλειά του και ώρες να αφιερώνει πολλές φορές ως τα χαράματα.
Ο Cellini θεωρείται από τους βασικότερους εκπροσώπους της Ιταλικής Αναγέννησης. Οσο για το βιβλίο θα το ξαναδιάβαζα με μεγάλη ευχαρίστηση!!!!

[Jay Daze · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want people to be reading your autobiography almost more than five hundred years later, write as entertaining a book as this one. A treasure.

[Gwern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moved to gwern.net.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 – 1571)
By Benvenuto Cellini

Cellini was born into the Century of the Italian Renaissance and became one of the brilliant artists and actors of the Academy of Florence.
His memoirs are told by the author in the first person and have the inimitable charm of personal experience. A generous reader will forgive the author if he is sometimes a little too boastful of his successes and will share his grief for his endless misfortunes. Many fateful events seem due to Benvenuto’s hot temper and failing diplomacy in relations with influential people.
Young Benvenuto initially learned the craft of goldsmith and from an early age developed jewels to his designs.
His taste for adventure and travel soon made him known well beyond the region of Florence and Rome.
But lawlessness of the 16th century was frightening. Traveling alone on horseback was certain to attract robbers, so people made up groups and hired armed men for protection. Cellini was a good swordsman; he would provoke a fight with any loud-mouthed encounter.
He was also a musician and became a sculpture at the request of his patrons.
He provided his services to the popes Clement VII and Paul III; King of France François 1er, Duque Cosmo 1er of Florence, and Charles Quint.
A successful artist in high society inevitably drew jealousy and enmities from courtiers and ladies who wanted to remain first in the eyes of the regents.
Cellini almost succumbed in dark prison cells being locked up for dark unfounded accusations. But luck, prayers, and endurance got him to the light again. He was deeply religious, especially when in trouble.
His love life with countless ladies and mostly with his art models left many children in the world for which he gives very little account.
Cellini’s masterpiece, the statue of Perce is made of bronze. It has a height of about half a meter and is clutching the head of the decapitated medusa in the outstretched left arm.
The technical prowess of the foundry with a self-made furnace and an improvised blend of copper and pewter amounts to a miracle.
It is of such extraordinary beauty; it remains unique to this day.
It can be seen in Florence in the Loggia des Lanzi, Piazza de la Signoria. I must go and see it on my next visit to Italy.
The book is highly recommended for readers of history especially the Italian Renaissance but also its originality as a well-written live story from an exceptional personality.

[Basilisk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five? Ten!? A whole pouch of golden stars wouldn't be enough of an award for this book.

Here, Cellini unclothes his soul to the reader, but beware for it is a black soul, a gullet which leads down into a sea of caustic vengeance and dark ambition. A few would want to have anything to do with such a devil of a character. However, the richness of adventure material, the abundance of psychology material, of historical material, of artistic material, the eloquence, the wittiness, the great talent, makes his account most divine. Actually, I have to say it! Despite the piles of corpses you had left behind, Cellini, I am somewhat missing you. :)

PS. This is the most scorpionic thing you will ever read.

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riotous, rumbustious, rowdy, Cellini's autobiography is egotistically sublime. It is a Boys' Own Story filled with daring escapes and courageous escapades. And, less anyone forget, the work contains constant reminders that Benvenuto was a master craftsman. As a writer, Cellini was a master of the set piece -- as he shows in his encounter with a necromancer in the Colosseum. This oral autobiography is a shaft of golden light into the murky Renaissance.

[Lavinia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Italians do it better, don't they? Well, I think I just found myself a new role model of self-confidence.
Benvenuto Cellini was first and foremost a goldsmith and a sculptor, but he made himself known and appreciated also as a flute player, a draftsman and a talented writer. He was nonetheless a brave soldier and a clever strategist.
Of course that for the most part of his autobiography he blows his own trumpet, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's a firsthand account of his experience in the Rome of Clement VII, the France of Francis I, and the Florence of Cosimo de’ Medici.
I'm fascinated with his life and works of art. He was a daredevil, who stuck at nothing to accomplish his desires even if this meant murder. The story itself is fascinating, a rare glimpse into the world of a Renaissance artist larger than life. Tales of early apprenticeships, family crises, exiles, revenge, plagues and invasions, imprisonments and adventurous escapes, necromancy and a legion of devils which he and a conjuror invoked in the Colosseum, mistresses, love affairs and charges of immorality, supernatural visions and angelic protection, royal and religious patronage, poisonings ... all this and more.
Now I so want to visit Florence and Rome and Vienna and all the other places where his works are exhibited.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was quite the biography. How much of it happened as Cellini recorded it is a matter of question. I guess it would be good to read a biography of someone else who knew Cellini.

What a braggadocio! He sounds like the Renaissance Iron Man, just beating up hordes of men coming after him.

If half of what he says about himself is true, then half of Italy was blind with jealousy, wanted to kill him, but he was too strong, and every woman wanted him for a lover. And if what he records about his sexual prowess, he must have been riddled with STDs and fathered half the country.

In between all that horseplay, we get to learn about his art. Cellini was the finest goldsmith and one of the finest sculptors and artists of the high Renaissance.

We also learn a lot about the politics and the way the rich patrons operated. Cellini definitely saw himself as an underdog who valiantly defends himself. Maybe it was fantasy, maybe it was his way of feeling better after being cheated of his art from rulers and other wealthy patrons. Then again, maybe he was a big jerk.

This is one of the livelier autobiographies you'll ever read and in the meantime get to time travel and vicariously live in a most colorful bygone age.

[jagodasbooks]

"I was kidnapped by one direction" ahhh book

pop off y/n king!!!

read for uni

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read a book written in 1558 before. Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence on 3 Nov 1500 and died on 13 Feb 1571. He began his autobiography in 1558 and it ended abruptly just before his last trip to Pisa about 1563. He apparently was a talented goldsmith, sculptor and was also a flute player. The first part of the book tells about the battles between Benvenuto and his father. His father was a musician and wanted Benvenuto to follow in his footsteps. He taught him to play but Benvenuto wanted to be an artist. He left Florence when he was 16 to study goldsmithing in Pisa. The story of his life is very interesting as he was a musician, goldsmith, sculptor and a soldier. This book reads like a novel. He mostly likely exaggerated his abilities but his art is in museum today so one can evaluate for oneself. His patron was Cosimo de Medici of Florence, Pope Clement VII and Pope Paul III along with Francis I of France. In the story I got the feeling he felt some key church people were against him and he would flee to another city for awhile. He writes in a complacent way of how he contemplated his murders before carrying them out. Apparently he murder about 5 people. He was in and out of prison as well as in and out of the Vatican. He goes into detail about the art he created and also a good deal about life in general in the 1500. I learned a great deal and enjoyed the style of his writing. I read this as an audio book; Robert Whitfield did a good job with all the Italian names. If you are interested in art history or history you will enjoy this book.

[Carlo Mascellani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orafo e artista impareggiabile, carattere inpetuoso e ardente, Cellini rappresenta una delle personalità più straordinarie della prima età Moderna. La sua autobiografia traccia, nel bene come nel male, un quadro abbastanza esplicativo della sua personalità, ci accompagna a conoscere il tormentato periodo delle Guerre d'Italia di inizio Cinquecento e ci conduce nel mondo degli artisti dell'epoca, spesso veri e propri cortigiani, frequentemente aemplici artigiani al soldo dei signori, sempre attenti alle committenze, sempre attenti alle altrui invidie e al destino del proprio mecenate.

[Siv30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

בנוונוטו צ'ליני נחשב לאחד מגדולי הצורפים של הרנסנס האיטלקי. לא ברור לי מי קבע את העובדה הזו והאם היא מבוססת על עדויותיו העצמיות המשבחות את עצמו ואת איכות עבודתו באוטוביוגרפיה הזו שלפנינו או שאכן נמצאו לכך ראיות. בין כה, אני לא הצלחתי למצוא צילומים או תמונות של שלל יצירותיו בהן הוא מתפאר במהלך האוטוביוגרפיה ואני חייבת להסתמך על עדותו העצמית שנמסרת לקורא בבטחון עצמי החלטי ובלתי ניתן לערעור

נולד ב- 1500, מת ב - 1571 בנוונוטו צ'ליני בנו של ארכיטקט ומוזיקאי, בחר לאכזב את אביו וללכת אחר נטיות ליבו להיות צורף ופסל ולא מוזיקאי. מתחילת האוטוביוגרפיה הזו שלפנינו הוא מורד במוסכמות ומסרב להיות ממושמע לעיתים עד קשות עורף וסיכון חיו.

הוא מתאר בציניות ובהומור שלוח רסן את קורותיו, ומערכות יחסיו עם האפיפיורים, הדוכסים שהיוו פטרונים לעבודתו ועם מלך צרפת פרנסואה הראשון. מאחר ובנוונטו צ'ליני היה אדם חם מזג ומהיר חימה, לא נחסכות מהקורא מלחמותיו האישיות עם אמנים בני זמנו ועם אנשים שאיתם בא בעימותים.

למעשה מאחר ורוב הזמן נשא פגיון וחרב, ומאחר והיה מהיר חימה הוא הורג במי שעולב בו, באמנותו ובמשפחתו בלי רחם והספר זרוע מתים על ימין ועל שמאל.

דווקא אלה לא מכניסים אותו לכלא אלא חשד פרוע שגנב מהאפיפיור. צ'ליני מתאר את יאושו ואת נחת זרועו של האפיפיור בעת שהותו בכלא וסירובו של האפיפיור לשחררו.

גם עם מלך צרפת הוא מגיע לפרשת מים והוא חוזר לאיטליה ללא הסכמה מפורשת שלו.

צ'ליני מתאר את תהליך היצירה שלו וגם מתאר לקורא את המוצר המוגמר. מהביוגרפיה עולה כי לא אחת חתרו תחתיו אמנים אחרים בשל שיטות העבודה האיטיות והפרפקציוניסטיות שבהן נקט. לא אחת פקפקו פטרוניו בגמר המוצלח של היצירה. אבל, צ'ליני הנאמן לעצמו וליצירה שלו, לא ויתר על עקרונותיו גם במחיר הפסד כספי.

זו אוטוביוגרפיה מעניינת היא כתובה בשפה קולחת והאירוניות הטבועה בה מזכירה רומאנים פיקרסקים ביחוד בתהפוכות ובאירועים שמלווים את דמותו של צ'ליני שלא בוחל בנקמות קטנות וגדולות ובתיאור אויביו ומתנגדיו בשפת רחוב רעילה.

בחלק האחרון של האוטוביוגרפיה לאחר שחזר מצרפת שם הגיע ליחסים קרים עם המלך והסתכסך עם המאהבת של המלך , הוא משרת את הדוכס קוזימו מדיצ'י ומתאר את תהפוכות יחסיו עם הדוכס בזמן בניית הפסל פרסאוס אוחז בראש מדוזה.

האוטוביוגרפיה פורסמה ע"י גתה בתחילת המאה ה- 18 ומאז צ'ליני הפך למפורסם גם בזכותה. בזכות הכתיבה שלו וגם אולי בזכות השחצנות והגוזמאות הטבועה בו.

מומלץ בחום לאוהבי ההיסטוריה, הבידור והאמנות.

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting something like Dürer's Travel Reports or Leonardo's Journal. Descriptions of people, artworks, techniques and innovations. However Cellini's autobiography is entirely different. In a sense it is somewhat comparable to Casanova's autobiography...

Aside from being one of the foremost mannerist sculptors Cellini is a hothead who is extremely proud of himself an easily insulted. Even when we consider the standard of those days, when people had a different notion about justice, honor and the value of individual life, when civil war was raging and bravi were making travelling in Italy (with precious jewels) a true adventure.

So Cellini writes about killing roughly 10 people in his life for various personal reasons, aside from numerous others he killd in war. He brags about raping and beating up women, he hints at being a pederast, impregnates 13 year olds that he leaves without support and deliberately maimes people. He threatens people, undermines court procedures and parttakes in fraud. He feels constantly undervalued, insulted and slandered and acts with bitter revenge. In short he is one of the least likable people you will ever read about and has more in common with one of Shakespeare's villains, than with a contemporary man.

Despite all this it is interesting to get a view of Italy in the age of Manzoni's "I Promessi Sposi". Sometimes the technicalities a a bit of a drag, sometimes he is just a bit too full of himself but after all this is a curious and worthwhile read if you're interested in history.

[Yann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolument génial. Ce livre va inspirer Stendhal. Une vie incroyable d'un contemporain de Michel ange, léonard de vinci. L'évasion du château saint ange vaut le détour.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. A rather unreliable but entertaining journal of the world of art and politics in Renaissance Florence, Rome and Venice. An incredible record.

[Sergei_kalinin · Rating 4 out of 5]

На редкость занимательное чтение :)

С одной стороны - необычайно одаренный творец, настоящий "человек Эпохи Возрождения". Скульптор, ювелир, писатель и поэт, музыкант, архитектор, оружейных дел мастер, стрелок и артиллерист, а также обладатель ещё десятка талантов и умений.

С другой стороны - человек с достаточно мерзким характером, который с гордостью описывает свои нелицеприятные похождения. Возможно, в этом есть доля преувеличенного хвастовства, т.к. автор описывал себя 20-30 летнего тогда, когда ему уже под 60. А тогда, как известно, и трава зеленее была и девки добрее :))). Возможно, для той эпохи характерна стилистика плутовского романа (ибо уж очень близко к этой стилистике автор излагает самые занимательные моменты своей биографии). Но даже с этими поправками морального уродства в книге хватает :((

Один только эпизод с натурщицей Катериной чего стоит! С натурщицами (со всеми; с 13-15-летними) Челлини спал, но одна из них (Катерина) имела неосторожность высказаться, что если она забеременеет от него, то через суд заставить его жениться на ней. Она нашла человека (знакомого Челлини), который согласился в будущем представлять её интересы в суде. Что сделал Челлини? Под угрозой оружия он женил Катерину на этом самом приятеле. После чего стал регулярно издеваться над ней и над ним.

Катерину вызывал на работу в качестве натурщицы, после чего бил и трахал: "таскал за волосы так, пока не устал, после чего она вся посинела и распухла, и теперь её надо лечить две недели, прежде чем снова можно будет ею пользоваться". И всё это ему доставляло немалую радость, т.к. он ещё и наставлял рога её незадачливому заступнику.

Моральный облик автора доставляет))) - скандалист, дуэлянт и мелкий пакостник был знатный. Чего стоит только эпизод в гостинице, где он отомстил неприветливому хозяину. Пишет, что гостиница была на удивление хорошая (для того времени) - с чистой и новой постелью. Потом ругается с хозяином, который всего лишь попросил оплату вперёд. После чего тайком возвращается в номер и разрезает всё постельное бельё на тонкие полосы. После чего удирает, опасаясь преследования хозяина и властей. Герой)))

Таких эпизодов в книге много. И я вот очередной раз убеждаюсь в том, что сильно одарённые люди не дружат с моралью и нравственностью :(. (Если только их одаренность не "специализируется" на этике, как, например, у Матери Терезы или Махатмы Ганди). Свобода в творчестве незаметно трансформируется в свободу жизненную - в отношениях. И далеко не всегда эта жизненная свобода со знаком "плюс".

Но, разумеется, все эти "криминальные хроники" :) - не главное в книге. Хотя по объёму их там и много (ну любит автор похвастаться). Главное - это всё же Человек-творец и его служение своему призванию. Для понимания психологии творчества книга бесценна!

И самое забавное, что вчитываясь, начинаешь понимать, что любые наши достоинства - это продолжение наших недостатков. Челлини - яростный, взрывной и безудержный в жизни - точно такой же и в своём творчестве!

Вот забавная цитата, которую приведу целиком: "Сам себе придавая духу, я поддувал в задницу этому Латтанцио Горини, чтобы он пошевеливался; кричал на каких-то хромых ослов и на слепенького, который их погонял; и с этими трудностями, притом на свои деньги, я наметил место для мастерской и выкорчевал деревья и лозы; словом, по своему обыкновению, смело, с некоторой долей ярости, я действовал".

Да, вот так и надо творить, чем бы мы по жизни не занимались - "с некоторой долей ярости" :) /...и ещё нюанс этой цитаты для тех, кто не заметил: скульптор - это ещё и организатор производства, настоящий проект-менеджер; и интересных мыслей по проектному управлению в книге хватает)) /.

Ещё интересная "фишка": в книге достаточно часто встречается оборот "и с великой быстротой сделал" (модель, эскиз, набросок). Челлини существует в условиях напряжённой творческой конкуренции. Никаких тендеров тогда не было :)) - был лишь тот, кто умел лучше понравиться богатому заказчику. И Челлини удавалось буквально отбирать у своих конкурентов отличные заказы именно потому, что он "с великой быстротой" создавал прототип будущей скульптуры (украшения и т.п.).

Эта вот быстрота и ярость - это настоящая жизнь-горение. Творец, не щадя себя, постоянно гонится за идеалом (который, как известно, не достижим); хватается за всё более масштабные новые проекты. И эта погоня постоянно на пределе сил и возможностей, в которую вовлекаются все, кто рядом:

"Уже я понанял много работников как по части ваяния, Так и по части золотых дел. Были эти работники итальянцы, французы, немцы, и иной раз у меня их бывало изрядное количество, смотря по тому, находил ли я хороших; потому что изо дня в день я их менял, беря тех, которые лучше умели, и этих я так подгонял, что от постоянного утомления, видя, как делаю я, а мне служило немного лучше телесное сложение, нежели им, не в силах вынести великих трудов, думая подкрепить себя многим питьем и едой, некоторые из этих немцев, которые лучше умели, чем остальные, желая следовать мне, не потерпела от них природа таких насилий и их убила".

Что любопытно, на фоне полной "аморалки" в личной жизни, Челлини очень щепетилен в вопросах профессиональной этики. Он готов щедро делиться своими знаниями с теми профессионалами, которые также стремятся быть лучшими в своём творчестве. Он искренне хвалит своих лучших учеников и помогает им сделать карьеру. Он с уважением относится к тем, у кого сам может чему-нибудь научиться. Он предостерегает от ошибок равных по мастерству, и способен конструктивно сотрудничать с ними.

Резюме: яркая и сильная книга о человеке-Творце, о человеке больших страстей и больших достижений. У меня лично книга вызва��а множество эмоций - от восхищения до отвращения. Но только не оставила равнодушным.

Использовать Челлини в качестве ролевой модели получится у очень немногих представителей креативного класса :)), да и времена сегодня другие. Но вот найти вдохновенную ярость в своём призвании, каким бы оно не было - бесценно! И это отличный урок...

PS Книга читается тяжело, авторский стиль труден для восприятия

PPS Читать онлайн "Жизнь Бенвенуто Челлини": http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader....

[Lobstergirl]

"It is true that there are some books which remain uncorrupted by their extensive falsity. The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini is an exercise in the ancient and honorable genre of leg-pulling; Rousseau's Confessions do not seem drastically compromised by his frequent distortions of the record." (The Love Affair as a Work of Art, Dan Hofstadter, p. 116)

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was areally interesting life to read about.

And even though sometimes I think Benvenuto was overselling it, and sometimes overdoing it, making you go, really? that happened? But still, it was a fascinating life that you can't put down like it's a story you want to see what happens next immediately. And the truly fascinating thing in his life's story is that he transports you over there in the 1500s and that time period and that's what made me love this story. He goes about what he wanted to do, what he did, how he did it, and all the troubles he got into along the way.

So, if you're interested in reading Benvenuto's life I'd definitely recommend it. If you're interesting in reading an artist's life that's also a solid autobiographer then you better do yourself a favor and read it too.

This autobiography makes you wanna read more autobiographies.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoir of art, patronage, and violence in the Renaissance.

[Udi]

אני לא נוהג לכתוב סקירות או לדרג, אבל האוטוביוגרפיה הכל כך טובה הזאת הפתיעה אותי, להלן:

הצורף, פסל, משורר, אסיר וחייל השחצן, אלים, גוזמאי ולעתים אולי קצת שקרן בנוונוטו צ'ליני (1500-1571) נחשב לאמן הצורפות הגדול ביותר של הרנסנס האיטלקי. בהתחשב בגאווה העצמית הכבירה שחש צ'ליני כלפי כשרונו, יש מן האירוניה בעובדה שמעטות הן עבודותיו ששרדו וקיימות כיום, ושהוא מפורסם בעקר בזכות האוטוביוגרפיה.

זהו מסמך ייחודי ומרתק בכמה רמות: חשיפה נמרצת וכנה של אופי מורכב ומסובך; לטקסט חשיבות הסטורית בשל תאור חיי האמן בן המאה ה16- יחסיו עם משפחתו, חבריו ופטרוניו; צ'ליני התחכך עם אמנים בני זמנו ("...הוא היה מעוניין במדליון. עם אטלס נושא את העולם על כתפיו, ופנה אל מיכלאנג'לו בבקשה שיעצב אותו. מיכלאנג'לו ענה: 'לך ומצא את הצורף הצעיר בנוונוטו; הוא ישרת אותך להפליא, ובטח שאינו צריך את הסקיצות שלי... דבר עם בנוונוטו, בקש ממנו שיעצב לך מודל'") והוא מוסר דו"ח על יצירות אמנות שלא שרדו, או כאלה ששרדו אך נשחקו; עניין רב ימצאו בספר חובבי אמנות (בעקר מתחום הצורפות והפיסול) כיוון שמתוארות בו טכניקות פיסול שאינן מוכרות בימינו.

צ'ליני הפסיק את כתיבת הביוגרפיה ב1558 בפתאומיות, והיא לא פורסמה עד 1728 ע"י גתה שהיה הראשון שתרגם אותה. צ'ליני משקף את הרעיון של אמן הרנסנס כגיבור רומנטי, ועובדות חייו לא פחות מעניינות מהסיפור.

בנו של ארכיטקט ומוזיקאי, חונך בנוונוטו הצעיר כצורף וגלה מיומנות בתחום. בגיל 16 עזב את פירנצה (בעקבות תגרת רחוב) ועבר לסיאנה. ב1519 עבר לרומא- מרכז פעילותו למשך שני העשורים הבאים. ברומא שרת צ'ליני את האפיפיורים קלמנס VII ופול III (מדליונים, מטבעות ותכשיטים).
להיות אמן במאה ה16, מסתבר, לא היה עסק פשוט. לפני שבכלל נכנס האמן לסדנא היה עליו למצוא פטרון ומימון ולהתמודד עם יריביו העסקיים (אמנים אחרים). ההתמודדות הזאת עם היריבים הייתה סיפור מאוד אלים, וצ'ליני, שנשא עליו באופן קבוע פגיון וחרב, לא משך ידיו מהחגיגה ("... התכוונתי לדקור אותו בפנים, אך הוא הסתובב ודקרתי אותו מתחת לאוזן"). אני הפסקתי לספור את מספר האנשים שנרצחו כתוצאה מהמפגשים האלימים האלה אחרי קורבן מספר ארבע.
בשנת 1527 (ביזת רומא) נלחם צ'ליני נגד הצבא האימפריאלי והגן על טירתו של האפיפיור ולטענתו (שאינה מאושררת ע"י הסטוריונים) הוא זה שירה למוות בדוכס צ'ארלס- בעל הדרגה הגבוהה ביותר בצבא האויב ("...אני הוא זה שהציל את הטירה באותו בוקר, והחזיר את שאר היורים לעמדותיהם"). הארוע מתואר בשחצנות האופיינית: "שאון הארטילריה האפיל על רישומי, המחקרים הנהדרים שלי בתחום עסוקי ואמנות המוזיקה המקסימה שלי... וטוב יותר- באמצעות פיצוץ אחד שחטתי למעלה מ30 אנשים".
מערכת יחסים מתוחה עם פול III וסדרת מעשי אלימות מצדו הובילו למאסרו בטירת סיינט אנג'לו, ממנה ברח בדרמטיות מחלון תאו עם קרעי סדינים שקשר זה לזה-
"... הייתי די תשוש וידי דיממו ובערו מכאב. הכאב אלץ אותי לעצור ולנוח לזמן מה, ושטפתי את ידי עם שתן".

את השנים 1540-1545 בלה צ'ליני בצרפת תחת חסותו של פרנסואה הראשון כפסל ומעצב פרוייקטים ארכיטקטוניים בארמון פונטנבלו. בשנת 1543 סיים את הכנת המלחייה המפורסמת והמהוללת- פסל שולחן עשוי זהב ומשובץ אמאיל ואבני חן המבוצע בוירטואוזיות טכנית יוצרת דופן. צ'ליני, כמובן, לא מפספס את ההזדמנות להתרברב ולשבח את עצמו, בצדק.

ב1545 חוזר צ'ליני לפירנצה, תחת פטרונותו של קוזימו מדיצ'י. עבור הדוכס קוזימו יצר את עבודתו השאפתנית ביותר- פרסאוס אוחז בראש מדוזה. חלק נרחב לקראת סוף הספר מתאר בפרוטרוט את העבודה על הפסל, תהליך העבודה, הקשיים הטכנים הרבים והמכשולים בדרך לבצוע (המושלם טכנית וויזואלית) בשל קשיים ומהמורות ביחסיו עם הדוכס.

את צ'ליני אני "מכיר" מתקופת לימודי בשנקר. האוטוביוגרפיה הזאת שכבה אצלי בקינדל כמעט שנתיים לפני שנגשתי אליה. חשוב לי לחזור ולהדגיש שלמרות שציפיתי לסיפור חייו המקצועי של האמן, צברתי עם הקריאה ידע נוסף על הקושי והיריבות האלימה בחיי האמן בן התקופה, תיעוד נדיר של ביזת רומא "מבפנים", יחסי הכוחות באיטליה ומידע רב על בית מדיצ'י (ששלטו בפירנצה במשך 3 מאות). הכל כתוב בהומור, אירוניה ומודעות עצמית רבה מאוד תוך שמירה על לשון מליצה ואתיקט אופייני לכתיבת הרנסנס בדברי שבח והלל לפטרוניו ובאותה מידה השמצות ארסיות וקללות משעשעות כלפי יריביו.
תרגום מצויין מאיטלקית לאנגלית של John Addington Symonds שאין לי מושג מי הוא, אבל אין ספק שיש לו ידע נרחב בהסטוריה, פוליטיקה, חברה ותרבות האטלקית של התקופה.

***אם שרדתם את הסקירה הזאת עד כה, ואתם מעוניינים לקרוא- בטח תשמחו לשמוע שהביוגרפיה זמינה ב--חינם-- בגרסת קינדל באמזון***

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Necromancy, assassinations, prison breaks, poisonings, stabbings (so many stabbings!), pranks on Michelangelo… dude lived a life. Come for the adventure, stay for the fascinating glimpse into Renaissance life and art. I read because Bujold based part of The Spirit Ring on Cellini and said fact was stranger than fiction… she was not wrong.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art history can be boring but this is art history first hand. If you want to go back to the renaissance this is the book for you. Celllini knew his own talent and did us all a great favor by giving us his account of the time.

[Strawny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Cellini is a gas and tells his story (supercalabragadocious) and all the while, you learn about what Italy was like for an artist in his time. I like to read this aloud to my family as if I myself am Benvenuto. Free comedy.

[Cassandra Kay Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Cellini you cad! Psh this is just hilarious. What better way to expose your foibles than an autobiography.