Benvenuto Cellini
| Benvenuto Cellini | |
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Bust of Benvenuto Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio, Florence
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| Born |
Benvenuto Cellini 1 November 1500 Florence, Republic of Florence |
| Died | 13 February 1571 (aged 70) Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Education | Accademia delle Arti del Disegno |
| Known for | Goldsmith, sculptor, painter |
| Notable work | Cellini Salt Cellar (Saliera), 1543 |
| Movement | Mannerism |
Benvenuto Cellini (Italian pronunciation: [bemveˈnuːto tʃelˈliːni]; 1 November 1500 – 13 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician, and artist who also wrote a famous autobiography and poetry.
He was one of the most important artists of Mannerism.
Benvenuto Cellini was born in Florence, in present-day Italy. His parents were Giovanni Cellini and Maria Lisabetta Granacci. They were married for eighteen years before the birth of their first child. Benvenuto was the second child of the family. The son of a musician and builder of musical instruments, Cellini was pushed towards music, but when he was fifteen, his father reluctantly agreed to apprentice him to a goldsmith, Antonio di Sandro, nicknamed Marcone. At the age of sixteen, Benvenuto had already attracted attention in Florence by taking part in an affray with youthful companions. He was banished for six months and lived in Siena, where he worked for a goldsmith named Fracastoro (unrelated to the Veronese polymath). From Siena he moved to Bologna, where he became a more accomplished flute player and made progress as a goldsmith. After a visit to Pisa and two periods of living in Florence (where he was visited by the sculptor Torrigiano), he moved to Rome, at the age of nineteen.
His first works in Rome were a silver casket, silver candlesticks, and a vase for the bishop of Salamanca, which won him the approval of Pope Clement VII. Another celebrated work from Rome is the gold medallion of "Leda and the Swan" executed for the Gonfaloniere Gabbriello Cesarino, and which is now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. He also took up the flute again, and was appointed one of the pope's court musicians.
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