People of Russia

Cellini, Benvenuto (Cellini) (03.11.1500 – 13.02.1571) – a famous Italian goldsmith, sculptor and medalist, a son of the architect Giovanni C., born in Florence, 3 November 1500, first studied music, but showed more inclination for plastic arts and, 15 years old, was admitted, against her father's will, as an apprentice to a goldsmith Anthony di Sandro, nicknamed Marconi. Wayward and violent nature of youth would not let him get on the same place and he went from one master to another, leading the wandering life between Florence and Rome, until in 1523, did not stay long in the Eternal City, where Pope Clement VII (Medici) , referring to his artistic knowledge and part of the music, and part of jewelry craftsmanship, took him into his service. In addition to various small craft for Pope, C. engaged thread dies for medals (which were then in vogue was for men's hats), casting and embossing decoration items, vybivnymi metal work, fabrication of enamels, and soon acquired great popularity among the wealthy Roman and nobility. This activity was interrupted by the artist and the devastation of the siege of Rome's Imperial army. Charles V under the command of konetablya Bourbon. Taking part in defending the city from the enemy, Charles, in his words (which, knowing his penchant for boasting, it is impossible to attach great faith), killed konetablya shot from a gun and the Prince of Orange from the gun. At the conclusion of the Barcelona World, Ch lived and worked then in Florence, then Rome. As in the second of these cities unjustly suspected of murder, he fled to Naples, but soon Clement VII called him back to his court. Succeeded by this pope, Paul III, Ch management entrusted by the Roman mint, but the murder of a Milanese goldsmith, committed by him in anger, pushed Benvenuto a new exodus, this time to Florence, here what he did, as a medalist at the service to the Duke of Alexander and made a number of excellent coins and medals, and then went to France at the court of Francis I, but soon fell ill and yearn for his homeland, he returned to Rome Pope granted him the pardon before his trip to France. Accused of concealment of silver, gold and precious stones, tempered ordered him to work from the papal treasury, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the Castle Sant'Angelo, but two years later, thanks to the intercession of Cardinal Hippolyte d'Este, released Freedom. Probably, on behalf of the dignitary was sculpted model of the famous salt-cellar, later executed in gold for the French. Kor. Francis I and now comprise a major jewelry imp. treasury in Vienna. In 1540 Charles went again to France, where he stayed at the Queen's service for five years. Among the works executed by him in this time, you can specify with certainty only to be referred to. "Fontonebloskuyu Nymph" – a colossal bronze relief depicting a naked young woman lying, surrounded by animals (nahod. in Louvre. Muses., Paris). Despite the goodwill Francis I of France and to receive from him a present of the castle of Le Petit Nestle, C., troubled by the intrigues of his rivals, has left France, where, and then refused to return, as though asking him about the king. He settled in Florence, where the Duke Cosimo I received him with open arms. For him, Charles molded and cast in bronze statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa in hand, one of his best works, painted now in Florence, Loggia dei lanzi. By the same pore of the famous artist are his experiments sculpture in marble – the group "Apollo et Hyacinthus" and the statue of "Narcissus" (both in Florent. Gal. Uffizi). During the war with the porch, Charles was in charge of the amendment and strengthening the fortifications of Florence. The last eight years of his life flowed more peacefully than all its previous years. In 1558 he went to the monks, but soon threw off his cassock to marry, regardless of the fact that he was about 60 years. He died in Florence, 13 February 1571, leaving behind the two daughters and son. From the performance of gold and silver items have reached us only a few: a jewel of their material, carelessness and ignorance of who owned them, were the reason. that the majority of them had long been destroyed to make other things, and although it is not uncommon to find items of this kind, considered to be issued from the hands of Charles, however, they belong to him is almost always not only questionable, but also completely unbelievable.From large sculptures C., above mentioned, especially the remarkable bronze, surpassing its size character bust of Cosimo I, in the Palazzo Bargello, Florence, and marble, the size of nature, the Crucifixion, in the Escorial, near Madrid. As a goldsmith, Ch worthy of the glory of first-class artist, he acquired during his life: a taste for ornamentation and elegance of it has no rival among the artists of the Renaissance. On the contrary, as a sculptor of large works, he takes in the history of Italian art, only a secondary place: his statue of Perseus, with all its beauty, suffers from the wrong aspect ratio and errors in the musculature; showiness it – purely external, are not excited deep feeling in the audience. Composition of medals and stamps, produced Ch, bears the imprint of affectation, common to almost all the followers of Michelangelo, whose influence is more or less clearly reflected in other works of Benvenuto Charles wrote his autobiography, brought to 1562 This essay first appeared in Print in Italian in 1728, and after published many times, translated into all of Europe. languages (Russian. translated SPb., 1848 and later). Bright outlining the author's identity and detailed recounting of his artistic activity, it provides at the same time a vivid picture of his environment, are well acquainted with his contemporary men and manners, and therefore of importance not only to art history, but also for the history of culture in general, except autobiography from the pen of Charles came two treatises, the goldsmith's skill and the sculpture, they, along with his other works in prose and verse, published by Fr. Tassi (Florence, 1839, 3 vols). -Wed E. Plon, Benvenuto Cellini, orfevre, medailleur et sculpteur "(Parizh 1882; supplemented. 1884); J. Arneth," Studien ibeg Benvenuto Cellini "(Vienna, 1859); A von Reumont," Cellinis letzte Lebensjahre "(V. "Historisch. Tachenbuch" Raumer in 1847) and his own, "Beitrage zur italienischen Geschichte" (Vol. 3, Berlin, 1854).