COVER PHOTO: Bronze bust of Benvenuto Cellini.
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… but how does Cellini (pronounced: Chell- eenee) take pride of place in the middle of what is one the world’s most prestigious bridges?
… the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno River in Florence …
Born in Florence in the son of a musical instrument maker and musician, by the age of 15 the young Benvenuto had begun training as a goldsmith – but, like his father, he also trained as a musician, in particular with the cornett and the flute.
However, by the age of 16, he had already become involved in various brawls and was exiled with his brother from Florence to Siena. From there he moved to Bologna and Pisa continuing his goldsmith’s work and improving his musical talent.
By the age of 19 he was a practising goldsmith in Rome, where his most notable piece of work, intended to be worn as a hat brooch, was a gold medallion of Leda and the Swan for the Florentine Gonfalonier of Justice (Municipal Magistrate and custodian of the flag of the city), Gabbriello Cesarino …
Working in Rome until , his musical talent had become such that he was able to combine his goldsmith’s work with playing music professionally and during this time, he became sufficiently accomplished musically to be appointed one of the papal court musicians.
However, he continued to live a lifestyle filled with drama, being accused at various times of sodomy, murder, theft, slander, necromancy and counterfeiting. During -23, at his father’s behest he returned to Florence (as a goldsmith) but soon fell out with a family of rival goldsmiths, the Guascontis, resulting in a knife brawl earning Cellini a death sentence after which he fled, returning to Rome. The s were punctuated with three murders and a wounding, including avenging his brother’s death by killing his brother’s killer, killing a rival goldsmith and wounding a notary. Despite this, he was pardoned and even went on to find favour with Pope Paul III.
While the later Caravaggio (-) is typically identified as the ‘Bad Boy of Baroque’, Cellini was certainly the archetypal ‘Bad Boy of the Renaissance’. Despite this, he is certainly one of the finest Renaissance craftsman; even Michelangelo (–) considered him the finest goldsmith of which he was aware.
From to , under the patronage of King Francis I of France he produced his only extant work in gold, the most important piece of goldsmith’s craftwork that has survived from the Italian Renaissance, the gold, ebony, enamel and ivory Saliera, the Cellini Salt Cellar. The figures are Tellus Mater (Latin: Mother Earth), at the side of whom is a gold temple to contain the pepper, and Neptune, God of the Sea, beyond whom is an open boat to carry Neptune’s salt.
For more detail on Cellini’s Salt cellar see here.
Now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the salt cellar is currently insured for a sum measured in tens of millions of €uros.
Unfortunately, there are so few of Cellini’s gold pieces remaining since, after his death, much of his work was melted down for its gold content!
By Cellini returned from France to Florence, now a sculptor celebrated for his classical works, to work for the second Florentine duke, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (from to ) who, despite all of Cellini’s accumulated misdeeds, elevated him to court sculptor. One important commission was a stunning bronze bust of Cosimo dressed in armour as a Roman Emperor, now housed in the Michelangelo Room in the Bargello Museum in Florence …
But it was one sculpture that was to become Cellini’s signature work, his most celebrated, but violent, masterpiece; the Mannerist bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of the Gorgon, Medusa, who could turn to stone any who gazed upon her …
Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa is renowned for its dynamic composition, intricate details, and the masterful portrayal of emotions. The sculpture was created between and taking Cellini nine years, an extended timeline due to the intricacy of the sculpture, the technical challenges in bronze casting, interruptions due to war and an accusation of sodomy from one of his studio assistants forcing him to flee to Venice for a while. Additionally, artistic perfection demanded by Cellini of himself required time and meticulous attention to detail. To technically achieve the overall composition, the bronze statue had to be cast in four parts: Perseus’ body, Medusa’s body, the sword and Medusa’s head.
This dynamic composition was commissioned by Cosimo I de’Medici to stand in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria amongst Michelangelo’s marble statue of David and Donatello’s bronze of Judith slaying Holofernes (now each replaced by a copy) in the heart of Florence …
Dominating the Piazza della Signoria is the Palazzo Vecchio with its tall campanile. Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the more ostentatiously placed Palazzo Vecchio (at the time named Palazzo della Signoria) in May , signalling the dominance of Medici power in Florence.
To the right of the palazzo in the above photograph is the Loggia dei Lanzi, originally an open building that housed the focal point of public meetings and ceremonies in the piazza, now essentially an open-air sculpture gallery whose exhibits include statues along the back wall dating back to Roman times …
Cosimo required from Cellini a statue in allegorical form that would display to the people of Florence the power, wealth and might of the Medici – particularly as a powerful, political piece of Medici propaganda. Cellini’s statue was intended to act as a warning to the populace about the perils of dissent. Superficially, Florentines would see the statue as a hero vanquishing a formidable enemy but the underlying intent was to graphically reinforce how the Medici overcame their rivals, including the states in and around Tuscany.
Cellini was directed to place the statue in the Loggia dei Lanzi on a high plinth to look down menacingly on the passing populace. It was placed so that it could be seen from the entrance of Cosimo’s Palazzo Vecchio.
Where it was originally placed in the 16th-century, is exactly the place it stands now! That’s the original Cellini statue to be seen in the Loggia that he unveiled to great acclaim on the 27th April …
As part of the overall sculpture, Cellini carved the rectangular marble base on which it stands (with the assistance of other sculptors, in particular Francesco del Tadda). The base contains four niches, one on each side, containing Cellini’s smaller cast bronzes of characters important in Perseus’ story (more of which later), making it the first statue since Roman times where the base formed an integral part of the work.
Perseus stands on the decapitated body of the vanquished Gorgon, grasping his sword in his right hand and raising aloft the severed head of Medusa in his left.
In Greek mythology, Perseus ranked as one of the great heroes in slaying the Gorgon, Medusa. Perseus was born a demi-god, son of the god, Zeus, and a mortal woman, Danae. Medusa was born a beautiful woman with long flowing hair who incurred the wrath of the goddess Athena. Athena cursed her with a hideous face and a writhing tangle of serpents instead of her beautiful hair – as portrayed on the shield painted by Caravaggio around …
Perseus set out to slay the Gorgon armed with gifts from the gods, including a pair of winged sandals from the messenger of the gods, Hermes; a sword from the god of fire and the forge, Hephaestus; a mirrored bronze shield from Athena to reflect, and so avoid, Medusa’s petrifying gaze; a helmet of invisibility from Hades, god of the underworld; and a pouch that was to carry the decapitated head of Medusa.
(A more comprehensive version of the story of Perseus and Medusa can be found here).
Bearing in mind the power of Medusa’s head, even in death, of turning to stone anyone who gazed upon her, it seems no surprise that, bar a couple of bronze statues in the piazza, all sculptures are stone (mainly marble) …
In fact, the position of Michelangelo’s David and Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus , either side of the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio and both looking directly at Medusa’s head, give the impression that they have succumbed to Medusa’s evil power. Perhaps Cellini placed his Perseus with Medusa’s head looking directly at Michelangelo’s David, turning David to stone, as if in a triumphant, “The master is dead, long live the master”? …
Now while the statue itself is Cellini’s original bronze casting, his plinth beneath has been replaced by a copy …
… the original now being housed in the Michelangelo Room in the Bargello Museum …
The statuettes depict characters appearing directly in Perseus’ mythological story: his father Zeus, his mother Danae with the young Perseus and his siblings Hermes and Athena …
Watch out for the following if you are lucky enough to be standing in the Loggia next to Perseus …
Not wishing to miss a trick, Cellini made sure that his image would live on beyond his mortal years. If one examines the back of Perseus’ helmet, one sees that Cellini has woven into the fabric of the statue his own self-image!
In a further attempt at self-promotion, there is a sash across the chest of Perseus along which Cellini has inscribed the sculptor’s (i.e. his) name, BENVENUTUS CELLINUS ...
… looking extremely similar to the sash across the Pietà (c. ) on which Michelangelo (for whom Cellini had the greatest awe and respect) had inscribed that he was the sculptor responsible …
By , having been committed to prison for sodomy, later commuted to four-years’ house arrest, Cellini set about writing his vivid and dramatic autobiography, entitled Vita (Life) – still in print (eg Amazon UK). In his book, Cellini offers fascinating insights giving a quite remarkably descriptive account and first-hand perspective of daily life in Renaissance Florence and Rome. Amongst its pages he describes in detail the nine-years-in-the-making of the statue of Perseus holding the Head of Medusa.
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It is the only autobiography written on the life and times of a high-Renaissance craftsman, a craftsman whose timeline overlapped those of Leonardo da Vinci (-) and Michelangelo Buonarotti (-), neither of whom wrote autobiographies.
Cellini’s was one of the first autobiographies written by any artist, while both Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s stories were told second-hand by Giorgio Vasari in his work (and -66 second edition), Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects) in which Vasari portrayed his favourite artists with reverence. It was how he thought Vasari, not his biggest admirer, would portray him in his second edition that spurred on Cellini to write about his own life in his Vita.
But Cellini’s autobiography is much more than a self-penned ‘local-lad-made-good’.
To say that his autobiography was a tale of derring-do would be a great understatement. This is a compelling historical document written by a self-opinionated, arrogant, boastful, immoral, narcissistic braggard, a shameless murderer and sodomiser who was not averse to embroidering his work with self-aggrandisement and larger-than-life escapades – sometimes fact, sometimes fantasy, but many of which have to be taken with a heavy pinch of salt!
That he lived to the age of 71 is amazing, especially after a hedonistic lifestyle that included imprisonment in dank dungeons, illness, vengeful murders, clashes with his powerful patrons, attempts to poison him with ground diamonds …
… and yet, despite all, it is a tale, told in his staggeringly vainglorious style, of social mobility of a genius of the Renaissance who counted kings, dukes and popes amongst his close acquaintances.
Worth a read!
In reference to the sculpture «Perseus with Medusa» by Benvenuto Cellini (-), the art foundry in Mendrisio calls itself «Perseo». The bronze sculpture was produced in the middle of the 16th century and is considered one of the most famous sculptures in art history. What distinguishes the statue? Who is Perseus and why does he lend his name to an art foundry? We take a look back into the history of the craft and the act of destroying and creating.
A Sensual Experience
When you enter the workshops of the Perseo SA art foundry in Mendrisio, all your senses are awakened. You hear, see, smell and feel: Loud hammering, the echoing of metal sounds, the hissing of grinding and polishing machines, the whirring of soldering machines, the pouring of glowing liquids, the smell of fire, ascending clouds of smoke and the heat that tingles on your skin. And when you think about all the things that are created here in a symbiosis between artists and the craftspeople, you suddenly feel a lot: Perseo ignites a passion for art, for creating. The name «Perseus» probably comes from ancient Greek and means "to destroy". How does this fit together with Cellini's created masterpiece and an art foundry?
Fig. 1: In the Perseo SA art foundry in Mendrisio, an employee works on the wax figure. Photo: art24.
The Myth Behind Cellini's Masterpiece
The figural group «Perseus with Medusa» was commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici and unveiled in in the «Piazza della Signoria» facing the «Loggia de' Lanzi» in Florence (ITA). There it fits in among other groups of figures as an integral part of the public square in front of the «Palazzo Vecchio», the seat of the city parliament at the time. Figures in public spaces served as examples of good behaviour for citizens and as inspiration for rulers in their governance. They shaped the cityscape and influenced behaviour and coexistence; they were thus an early form of propaganda. The figural group «Perseus with Medusa» can be seen in the context of its period of creation as a symbol of dictatorship triumphing over democracy. Perseus was a hero to the commissioner Cosimo, who killed the monster. The sculpture celebrates the power of the Medicis over the Florentine people and the city-state's defiance of the Italian Republic. Perseus embodies the Medici ruler and Medusa the defeated Republic.
Fig. 2: Perseus with Medusa in the Piazza della Signoria, photo: Wikipedia.
But was this also Cellini's intention? The naked Perseus, equipped with a stabbing sword held ready in his right hand at waist level, a helmet with wings on his curly head and his winged shoes on his feet, stands with one foot on the twisted corpse of Medusa and stretches her severed head triumphantly upwards while the blood flows down in coral-like streams. But even though Medusa has just been killed, her body and face appear sensual, as if she were transcending. In its earliest forms, the myth of Medusa goes back a long way, with her originally being a moon goddess. The narrative changed to a version that we recognise in various stories and myths: The female goddess is overpowered and killed by the male hero. In early Greek mythology, Medusa is henceforth described as one of the three Gorgon sisters, creatures who live in Hades. This myth also developed further. Medusa became a beautiful virgin who, unlike her two sisters, is now mortal and attracts the jealousy of other women because of her beauty. Poseidon rapes the Gorgon in Athena's temple, who then punishes not Poseidon but Medusa for «violating» the temple's sanctity. She gives her a terrible face and turns her beautiful hair into snakes. The face turns anyone who gets to see it to stone. The half-god Perseus sets out to kill Medusa on behalf of Polydektes. In all versions of the story, he succeeds by sneaking up on Medusa with a cloak of invisibility and using a mirrored shield so that he does not have to look her in the face but sees his likeness and consequently does not turn to stone. In most cases, the mortal hero is also punished in the end, but here the common pattern of punishment as a result of «killing» a deity is omitted, since Medusa is human according to Hesiod. This sparing of the hero may have been one reason why Cosimo chose this sculpture for the «Piazza della Signoria».
Fig. 3: Perseus with Medusa, close-up, photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.5.
Cellini Breathes New Life into Medusa
Until now, Cellini was known mainly for smaller figures and less for oversized and complex sculptures. He was probably inspired by older Renaissance sculptures in which Medusa was not necessarily depicted as ugly, but also the movement of Mannerism had its influence. Thus, he was primarily concerned with the expression of the bodies and wanted to depict the figures as elegantly as possible. The strong resemblance of the faces of the two figures, as well as Perseus' curly hair and Medusa's serpentine hair, allows the legitimate question of what Cellini's intention behind the work was, apart from Cosimo's political ideas. Is the figure of Perseus really triumphant and strong and Medusa the vanquished beast? Perseus surprises Medusa in her sleep, here lying on a pillow, contrary to the traditional story in the wilderness, and kills her. Even the way he pushes down her twisted body does not necessarily seem glorifying. Is Perseus, or Cosimo, portrayed as a traitor and murderer? Medusa's origin as a moon goddess thus seems to become permeable again. Did Cellini initiate a return to her divine nature and is her death to be understood as a kind of ritual death towards something greater? Thus, the head stretched upwards seems like an upward movement towards heaven, separated from the human, earthly body. Just as Cellini transformed this victory of Perseus into something else, so too did the political dynamics change in the 16th century. The Italian states became less and less important in European history. Cellini received no further commissions from Cosimo, but his sculpture remained, despite Cosimo's known declining enjoyment of the figure group. Obviously, he too understood that it was a masterpiece by Cellini.
Fig. 4: Perseus with the Medusa, close-up of the faces, photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Destroy and Create
In addition to its beauty and remarkable details, the sculpture's production process was also a sensation. But the casting faced many challenges. There was no longer a workshop for artistic bronze casting in Florence, as the artisans had moved to Venice or other places. Moreover, since the end of the 15th century, work was mainly done in marble. But bronze was on the upswing again for artistic work, a material that was also used for making weapons. Furthermore, Cosimo seemed to be a great admirer and connoisseur of the material. «The hard metal alloy was, on the one hand, a symbol of power and fortitude and was regarded as a material of eternity.» (Orig. «Die harte Legierung war einerseits Sinnbild für Macht und Wehrhaftigkeit und galt als Ewigkeitsmaterial.», Marianne Knipping, fidibus.me) The material was held in high esteem and accordingly bronze casters held a high status, as great knowledge of the material, process and treatment of the ore in the fire was necessary. Cellini used these challenges as an opportunity.
The latter let the public participate in the process by making public in writings the «secret» guarded around the art of casting and the process of his work. In this way, he demonstrated his skill in the field of bronze casting, which he placed on a level with sculpture (Paragone), which regained popularity from the Gothic period onwards. For just as in sculpture it is possible to create something from a single block by removing it, Cellini succeeded in creating a one-piece bronze casting. A process that was once known in antiquity. If the sculpture had been made of marble, it would probably have been an almost impossible static challenge to create the raised arm with the head of Medusa in its hand. Thus, Cellini would succeed in creating a sculpture that even marble artists could not create. Cellini wanted the casting to be carried out by his own hands, that is, not by a bronze caster, since in Florence they were mainly familiar with the casting of weapons. The creative process was obviously much more important to him than anything else. So, was the process of creating the actual work of art in his eyes? This brings into focus the material that is destroyed in its original form.
The Spirit of Life in Metal
Cellini formed the body of the Medusa from a framework of iron and then burned the model. Wax was then applied and the mould cast. For the Perseus figure, he made a clay model as the core, which was covered with wax. He then covered the figure with a special moulding layer of clay (called a cowl), which allowed for particularly good self-venting. He covered everything with iron and melted out the wax at moderate heat. Then he surrounded it with a «sleeve» of bricks with many gaps and baked the figure for two days until the wax melted out completely and the inner shape was solidified. Then a pit was dug and the figure was raised with the help of winches and ropes and the cast body sunk into the pit. At the same time as the air tubes made of fired clay were attached, the pit was filled with earth. Cellini had constructed the kiln himself, as there was no longer a workshop in Florence. But Cellini fell ill and had to leave the work to his assistants. The fact that a fire broke out and the roof almost burned down, while at the same time a violent thunderstorm raged outside and the water streaming in cooled the kiln seemed to give him new strength and soon he rushed back into the workshop, had the fire and water controlled and took up the work again. In the process, he had to liquefy the bronze again, which had become hard. After further difficulties with the material, Cellini finally succeeded in producing the Perseus form in one casting by adding tin. Cellini thus resurrected the «material believed to be dead» (Orig. «totgeglaubte Material», Marianne Knipping, fidibus.me), as well as himself, from the dead. On the one hand, Cellini's artistic work caused him to fall ill and suffer physically, but at the same time he described his dramatic healing through the creative urge. Creation was thus preceded by a destructive act; and Cellini breathed life into sculpture; this idea is preceded by an understanding of metal that can already be found in antiquity. According to this, metals consist of water, and would be created by its coagulation. According to Aristotle's teachings, these watery components of metals contained "pneuma", meaning a spirit of life. A belief that also existed in the 16th century. Thus, the spirit would be released again through the liquefaction of the metal by fire (see Marianne Knipping, fidibus.me).
Material and Expression
Cellini thus probably succeeded in creating the first Renaissance bronze sculpture in one casting under large and theatrical circumstances. Even today, similar work steps are still carried out. Thus, the Perseo art foundry is part of a long tradition. Through the inherent act of destroying, firing and reshaping, something entirely new is created. Even though new equipment and technologies are used today, the process remains physical and requires a lot of skills. The employees of the art foundry thus realise the spiritual ideas of the artists by shaping the material, the objective, which contributes significantly to the expression of a work. And just as Perseus recognises himself in the mirror, so does the human being recognise himself in art and thus protect himself from paralysis. Creating and creating gives us the spirit of life. The art24 art team was able to experience how this life is breathed into the sculptures during a visit and will never forget it!
Fig. 5: A finished art object in the Perseo SA in Mendrisio. Photo: art24.
Glossary:
Gorgon: Three terrifying figures with serpentine hair from Greek mythology, at the sight of which one turns to stone.
Hades: In Greek mythology, Hades refers to the ruler of the underworld, but also to the underworld as a place.
Mannerism: A European artistic movement that began around and continued until around . The term is derived from the Italian word "maniera" and means "style". Typical of Mannerism are, for example, unnatural-looking bodies, postures and perspectives, enhanced movement and expressiveness, etc.
Paragone: A theoretical "contest of the arts" that was mainly fought in the Renaissance and early Baroque. It was about which form was the most important art within the visual arts, but also in comparison to other arts, such as poetry.
Further reading:
Knipping Marianne (). Bronze – zum Leben erweckt. Die aufregende Entstehung der Perseus- und Medusa-Gruppe von Benvenuto Cellini. Auszug aus einem Vortragsmanuskript in der Universität Kassel, Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar, Juli .
Bardi Ugo (). The Myth of Medusa: Benvenuto Cellini and the “Loggia de’ Lanzi” in Florence. In: Goffredo, S., Dubinsky, Z. (eds) The Cnidaria, Past, Present and Future. Springer, Cham. (https://doi.org/10./978-3-319--4_49).
Barbara Stoltz (). Der Bronzeguss in der zeitgenössischen Kunst: Tradition einer Herausforderung, in: kunsttexte.de / Sektion Gegenwart, Nr. 1. (https://doi.org/10./ksttx..1.).
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