660 



C E L L I N I. 



Cellini, boots penetrating deep into the flesh. Having crawl- 



-Y ' ed to the mansion of the Duke Ottavio Farnese, he 



was humanely received and protected, whde crowds 



repaired to behold the inaccessibility of the place 



which he had left. 



When Cellini had recovered from the effects of 

 the accident, he was again carried to the castle of St 

 Angelo, where the confinement he underwent was 

 infinitely more rigorous than before. He was impri- 

 soned in a dark and loathsome dungeon, infested by 

 noxious reptiles, and scarcely supplied with subsistence 

 for the preservation of life. The treatment he suf- 

 fered was such as frequently to prompt him to lay 

 violent hands on himself, and reduced him to the ut- 

 most despair. 



By the earnest intercession of the Cardinal of Fer- 

 rara, in name of Francis I., he was enlarged after the 

 lapse of several years. 



Cellini now repaired to France, as the king was 

 desirous that he should enter his service, and it was 

 fortunate that he did so, for the pope soon repented 

 that he had granted his release. He was engaged at 

 a liberal salary, and presented with 500 crowns to de- 

 fray the expenee of. his journey from Italy, in the 

 course of which he unluckily killed a man at Vi- 

 terbo. 



The first work in which, Cellini was employed was 

 twelve silver statues of .gods and goddesses, exactly 

 the height of the king, three of which he probably 

 completed. He made uncommon exertions with that 

 of Jupiter, for which he cast a magnificent bronze 

 pedestal, bearing the rape of .Ganymede, Leda and 

 the swan, and other fabulous histories, in relief. The 

 statue weighed 300 pounds ; in its right hand it held 

 a thunderbolt, which it <\vas just in the attitude of 

 throwing, and in the left was a .globe of the earth. 

 The whole rested on its gilt pedestal, on four balls, 

 so that a child could turn it. This production raised 

 Cellini high in the royal favour : he obtained a grant 

 of the castle of Nello, in which his works were car- 

 ried on, and also letters of naturalization. The king 

 promised him 2000 crowns for it, and proposed to 

 assign him the like sum yearly, from the revenues of 

 a. vacant abbey. 



Cellini began to exhibit his talents in casting 

 bronze heads and busts, and modelled a gate for the 

 palace of Fontainebleau, which was executed with va- 

 rious embellishments after the antique. He also de- 

 signed a colossus, 54: feet in height, which it is pro- 

 bable was commenced^ but not completed ; for an 

 anecdote is related of one of his assistants concealing 

 a favourite female, from her mother, in the head of 

 it. In the mean time, his silver statues of Mars and 

 Vulcan were making rapid progress, and he seemed 

 to have attained the summit of his wishes, so far as 

 respected success and reputation. He enjoyed a pen- 

 sion of 1000 crowns yearly, and had 40 men in his 

 employment. 



Cellini, however, neglecting to court the good 

 offices of Madame d'Estampes, the French king's 

 mistress, the favour of the king, if not with- 

 drawn, was diminished; he was accused, and ap- 

 parently tried for certain obnoxious crimes; his 

 allowances run into arrear ; the combination of 

 3!! these circumstances led to his sudden retreat 

 from the kingdom, where, for several years, he 

 had been gradually rising in celebrity. The king 



having afterwards testified his displeasure, and de- Cellini, 

 manded an account of the works he had executed, ^"Y"""' 

 Cellini expressed his readiness to return to his service, 

 that he might defeat the malice of his enemies, and 

 assured him, that, so far from deriving p.ofit, a con- 

 siderable portion of his salary was still due. 



Cellini had formerly been employed by Cosmo di 

 Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, a liberal patron of 

 the arts, to strike several fine medals, and was ap- 

 pointed engraver to the mint. Immediately on re- 

 gaining Italy he was taken into his service, and, at 

 the duke's desire, undertook to cast a superb statue 

 of Perseus, in bronze, to ornament the grand square 

 of Florence. In a few weeks he, with great pains, 

 finished a model in yellow wax, about a cubit long, 

 with which the Duke, who was an eminent judge of 

 every thing relative to the arts, declared his satisfac- 

 tion, saying to Cellini, that the statue, if cast with 

 equal success, would exceed all others in his posses- 

 sion. The artist readily pledging himself for the per- 

 formance of it, commenced his operations. He formed 

 model in plaster, the full size of the statue, from 

 which the cast should be made, beginning with Me- 

 dusa lying at the feet of Perseus. But judging the 

 clay of Florence unfit for his purpose, he tried its 

 quality by previously casting a fine head of the duke. 

 Next he cast the figure of Medusa, wherein he had 

 used particular caution, and formed his moulds of a 

 compound devised by himself. The statue came out 

 so clean and perfect, that, in the opinion of other' 

 artists, to retouch it was unnecessary. Cellini was 

 deeply interested in the completion of his work ; it 

 excited more anxiety than all the others in which he 

 had been engaged ; for he trusted that it would re- 

 main to perpetuate his renown in statuary, and a lively 

 dispute commenced between him and his patron, whe- 

 ther he should be able to fulfil his undertaking. 



The cast being completed, Cellini began to un- 

 cover it, when all the parts appeared in uncommon, 

 and in what he had not anticipated, in equal perfec- 

 tion. Proceeding to the right foot, he was induced 

 to conclude that the conjectures advanced by his 

 patron, that it would be defective, had been erroneous, 

 when uncovering it still more, he found that not only 

 the toes, but part of the foot itself, were wanting, as 

 he had predicted. 



Some interval elapsed before the work was adapt- 

 ed to public inspection, which Cellini partly occupied 

 in the necessary improvements, partly in travelling 

 and in casting other figures. At last being exhibited 

 in Florence, it was viewed with universal admiration, 

 the whole city flocked to behold it, and crowds ga- 

 thered round the artist, as if to gaze on one who was 

 capable of producing so beautiful a piece of work- 

 manship. Sonnets and epigrams addressed to Cel- 

 lini, bestowing the highest praises upon him, were 

 posted up in different parts of the city, and the grand 

 duke, his patron, declared, that he should receive a 

 liberal reward. Among the spectators were two Si- 

 cilian gentlemen on a mission from their own to the 

 Tuscan government, who immediately invited the 

 artist to Sicily. 



At a late period of his life, Cellini testified a de- 

 sire to be employed on a huge block of fine marble 

 which had been purposely quarried for a statue of 

 Neptune. He had previously shewn himself to be 

 an able sculptor, and in particular had restored am u- 



