Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571)

What a raucous soap opera this book was! Cellini is best known as being a master goldsmith as well as a sculptor. His first noted great work was a silver salt cellar for the King of France. Cellini was a juvenile delinquent from the age of 12 when he roamed the streets of Florence. His parents were musicians and tried to reign him in and apprentice him to musicians, but he rebelled, and he was finally apprenticed to a goldsmith. He didn't like the instruction so at age 19 he ran away to Rome. While there he found an old friend who lent him a workspace and gave him a piece of silver which began his career. Cellini tells fantastic stories, although I'm not sure all are believable. According to his own writings, he took part in the sack of Rome in 1527, was sued four times for sodomy, and committed murder several times. He writes that he found those who sued him and "stabbed him so badly in the arms and the legs, that he would not be mobile again." He sought out the second subject for the same, but as the man repented during the stabbing, Cellini did not injure him as badly. Cellini also believed he could conjure up devils to do his bidding. He was imprisoned several times while in Rome and believed that he had a halo around his head indicating divine protection. Eventually, he was exiled from Rome and returned to Florence where Cosimo Medici became his patron. Per his own story, Cellini was quite a narcissist who exploited almost everyone with which he came into contact. 465 pages… (more)

When you get a first-person account from 500 years ago, you really hope to read about details of everyday life, what people ate, where they lived, what they wore..

but of course those are not the things people think to record, nor it is it Cellini's intent to record the minutiae of every day life.. Instead, this is Cellini's attempt to set the record straight against anyone who he feels hard done by , i.e. everyone. He is constantly mortally offended, and takes revenge, occasionally violently. He destroys the bedding in an inn after the landlord has the temerity to ask him to pay up front.

There were some puzzling medical mysteries that I wish some one should shed some light on. The governor of the prison has a complaint where he is convinced he is a bottle of oil, and then a bat. This sis the same prison where Cellini has a series of religious visions, so perhaps there is something in the water?


It is an authentic voice from the past, and you don't have to like him.He probably doesn't like you ,anyway.… (more)