Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

· Simon and Schuster
eBook
353
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

Benvenuto Cellini was a celebrated Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith; a passionate craftsman who was admired and resented by the most powerful political and artistic personalities in sixteenth-century Florence, Rome and Paris. He was also a murderer and a braggart, a shameless adventurer who at different times experienced both papal persecution and imprisonment, and the adulation of the royal court. Inn-keepers and prostitutes, kings and cardinals, artists and soldiers rub shoulders in the pages of his notorious autobiography: a vivid portrait of the manners and morals of both the rulers of the day and of their subjects. Written with supreme powers of invective and an irrepressible sense of humour, this is an unrivalled glimpse into the palaces and prisons of the Italy of Michelangelo and the Medici.

About the author

Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, Italy, on November 1, 1500. He became a celebrated sculptor, goldsmith, and author, but his fierce temper caused him to be exiled and imprisoned for numerous crimes, the most serious being murder. Among Cellini's best work as a sculptor was a gold saltcellar made for Francis I of France, and a colossal bronze statue titled Perseus and Medusa. Other significant works include a bust of Cosimo I de Medici and Ganymede on the Eagle, both of which are now housed in the Bargello Museum in Florence. Cellini is best known for his memoirs, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, which he wrote from 1558 to 1562 and was published after his death. He died on February 13, 1571.

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