Editing Benvenuto Cellini (section)

==Biography==

===Youth===
Benvenuto Cellini was born in [[Florence]], in present-day Italy. His parents were Giovanni Cellini and Maria Lisabetta Granacci. They were married for 18 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 16, 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 [[cornett]] and flute player and made progress as a goldsmith.<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch IX</ref> After a visit to [[Pisa]] and two periods of living in Florence (where he was visited by the sculptor [[Pietro Torrigiano|Torrigiano]]), he moved to Rome, at the age of nineteen.{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=604}}<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch XIII</ref>

===Work in Rome===
[[File:Persee-florence.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Perseus with the Head of Medusa]]'']]
His first works in Rome were a silver [[Casket (decorative box)|casket]], silver [[candlestick]]s, 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wga.hu/html_m/c/cellini/2/10medal.html|title=Medallion with Leda and the Swan by CELLINI, Benvenuto|work=wga.hu}}</ref> He also took up the cornett again, and was appointed one of the pope's court musicians.{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=604}}<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch XXII.</ref>

In the attack on Rome by the imperial forces of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]] under the command of [[Charles III, Duke of Bourbon]] and [[Constable of France]], Cellini's bravery proved of signal service to the [[pontiff]]. According to Cellini's own accounts, he shot and injured [[Philibert of Chalon|Philibert of Châlon, prince of Orange]]<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch XXXVIII</ref> (and, allegedly, shot and killed Charles III resulting in the [[Sack of Rome (1527)|Sack of Rome]]). His bravery led to a reconciliation with the Florentine magistrates,<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch XXXIX</ref> and he soon returned to his hometown of [[Florence]]. Here he devoted himself to crafting medals, the more famous of which are "[[Hercules]] and the Nemean Lion", in gold ''repoussé'' work, and "[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] supporting the Sphere", in chased gold, the latter eventually falling into the possession of [[Francis I of France]].{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|pp=604–605}}

From [[Florence]], he went to the court of the duke of [[Mantua]], and then back to Florence. On returning to Rome, he was employed in the working of jewelry and in the execution of dies for private medals and for the [[papal mint]].{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=605}} In 1529, his brother Cecchino killed a Corporal of the Roman Watch and in turn was wounded by an [[arquebusier]], later dying of his wound. Soon afterward Benvenuto killed his brother's killer—an act of [[blood revenge]] but not justice as Cellini admits that his brother's killer had acted in self-defense.<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch LI</ref> Cellini fled to [[Naples]] to shelter from the consequences of an affray with a [[Civil law notary|notary]], Ser Benedetto, whom he had wounded. Through the influence of several [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]]s, Cellini obtained a pardon. He found favor with the new pope, [[Pope Paul III|Paul III]], notwithstanding a fresh homicide during the [[interregnum]] three days after the death of Pope Clement VII in September 1534. The fourth victim was a rival goldsmith, Pompeo of Milan.<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 1, Ch LXXIII</ref>

===Ferrara and France===
The plots of [[Pier Luigi Farnese]] led to Cellini's retreat from Rome to [[Florence]] and [[Venice]], where he was restored with greater honour than before. At the age of 37, upon returning from a visit to the French court, he was imprisoned on a charge (apparently false) of having embezzled the gems of the pope's [[Papal tiara|tiara]] during the war. He was confined to the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], escaped, was recaptured, and was treated with great severity; he was in daily expectation of death on the [[scaffold]]. While imprisoned in 1539, Cellini was the target of an assassination attempt of murder by ingestion of [[diamond]] dust; the attempt failed, for a nondiamond gem was used instead.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robert A. Freitas Jr. |title=Nanomedicine |url=http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMIIA/15.1.1.htm |volume=IIA: Biocompatibility |publisher=[[Landes Bioscience]] |location=Georgetown, TX |year=2003 |chapter=15.1.1 Mechanical Damage from Ingested Diamond}}</ref> The intercession of Pier Luigi's wife, and especially that of the Cardinal d'Este of [[Ferrara]], eventually secured Cellini's release, in gratitude for which he gave d'Este a splendid cup.{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=605}}<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 2, Ch II</ref>

Cellini then worked at the court of [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] at [[Fontainebleau]] and Paris. Cellini is known to have taken some of his female models as mistresses, having an illegitimate daughter in 1544 with one of them while living in France, whom he named Costanza.<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 2, Ch XXXVII</ref> Cellini considered the [[Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly|Duchesse d'Étampes]] to be set against him and refused to conciliate with the king's favorites. He could no longer silence his enemies by the sword, as he had silenced those in Rome.{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=605}}

===Final return to Florence and death===
[[File:Benvenuto Cellini Florence Uffizi.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue of Cellini, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Florence]]

After several years of productive work in France, but beset by almost continual professional conflicts and violence, Cellini returned to [[Florence]]. There he once again took up his skills as a [[goldsmith]], and was warmly welcomed by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici – who elevated him to the position of court sculptor and gave him an elegant house in Via del Rosario (where Cellini built a foundry), with an annual salary of two hundred scudi. Furthermore, Cosimo commissioned him to make two significant bronze sculptures: a bust of himself, and Perseus with the head of Medusa (which was to be placed in the Lanzi loggia in the centre of the city).

In 1548, Cellini was accused by a woman named Margherita of having committed [[sodomy]] with her son Vincenzo,<ref>{{cite book|author=L. Greci|title=Benvenuto Cellini nei delitti e nei processi fiorentini|language=it|publisher=Archivio di antropologia criminale|page=50|year=1930}}</ref> and he temporarily fled to seek shelter in Venice. This was neither the first nor the last time that Cellini was implicated for sodomy (once with a woman and at least three times with men during his life), illustrating his homosexual or bisexual tendencies.<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Rocke|title=Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Smalls|title=Homosexuality in Art (Temporis Collection)|publisher=Parkstone Press|year=2012}}</ref><ref name="srf.ch">{{Cite web |date=2022-03-06 |title=Straightwashing von Künstlern - Die historische Forschung tut sich schwer mit Homosexualität |url=https://www.srf.ch/kultur/straightwashing-von-kuenstlern-die-historische-forschung-tut-sich-schwer-mit-homosexualitaet |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) |language=de}}</ref> For example, earlier in his life as a young man, he was sentenced to pay 12 ''staia'' of flour in 1523 for relations with another young man named Domenico di Ser Giuliano da Ripa.<ref name="ReferenceA">I. Arnaldi, ''La vita violenta di Benvenuto Cellini'', Bari, 1986</ref> Meanwhile, in Paris a former model and lover brought charges against him of using her "after the Italian fashion" (i.e., sodomy).<ref name="ReferenceA" />

During the war with [[Battle of Marciano|Siena]] in 1554, Cellini was appointed to strengthen the defences of his native city, and, though rather shabbily treated by his ducal patrons, he continued to gain the admiration of his fellow citizens by the magnificent works which he produced.{{sfn|Rossetti|Jones|1911|p=605}} According to Cellini's autobiography, it was during this period that his personal rivalry with the sculptor [[Baccio Bandinelli]] grew.<ref>Cellini, ''Vita'', Book 2, Ch. III</ref> On 26 February 1556, Cellini's apprentice Fernando di Giovanni di Montepulciano accused his mentor of having sodomised him many times while "keeping him for five years in his bed as a wife".<ref>"Cinque anni ha tenuto per suo ragazzo Fernando di Giovanni di Montepulciano, giovanetto con el quale ha usato carnalmente moltissime volte col nefando vitio della soddomia, tenendolo in letto come sua moglie" (For five years he kept as his boy Fernando di Giovanni di Montepulciano, a youth whom he used carnally in the abject vice of sodomy numerous instances, keeping him in his bed as a wife.)</ref> This time the penalty was a hefty 50 golden [[Italian scudo|scudi]] fine, and four years of prison, remitted to four years of house arrest thanks to the intercession of the [[Medici]]s.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In a public altercation before Duke [[Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Cosimo]], [[Bartolomeo Bandinelli|Bandinelli]] had called out to him ''{{Lang|it|Sta cheto, soddomitaccio!}}'' (Shut up, you filthy sodomite!) Cellini described this as an "atrocious insult", and attempted to laugh it off.<ref>''Vita'', Book II, Ch. LXXI</ref>

After briefly attempting a clerical career, in 1562 he married a servant, Piera Parigi, with whom he claimed he had five children, of whom only a son and two daughters survived him.

He was also named a member (''Accademico'') of the prestigious [[Accademia delle Arti del Disegno]] of Florence, founded by the Duke [[Cosimo I de' Medici]], on 13 January 1563, under the influence of the architect [[Giorgio Vasari]]. He died in Florence on 13 February 1571 and was buried with great pomp in the church of the [[Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze|Santissima Annunziata]].