Benvenuto Cellini
A swashbuckling goldsmith whose audacious life and exquisite Salt Cellar captured the violent glamour of the Italian Renaissance.
1500–1571 (age 71)·Italian goldsmith and sculptor·Birthday: November 3
Biography
Benvenuto Cellini lived with the bravado of a character from one of his era's epic poems. Born in Florence, he was a master goldsmith whose technical brilliance was matched only by his propensity for brawling, dueling, and frequent escapes from the law. His patrons included Pope Clement VII and King Francis I of France, for whom he created the breathtaking Salt Cellar, a miniature sculpture in gold and enamel that remains a pinnacle of Mannerist metalwork. Later in life, he turned to large-scale sculpture, producing the bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa for the Florentine Piazza della Signoria. His true legacy, however, may be his autobiography, a boastful, vivid, and unapologetic account of his adventures, artistic rivalries, and passionate temper, offering an unparalleled window into the Renaissance mind.
#1 When Benvenuto Was Born
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Benvenuto's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1500Born
1505Started school
1513Became a teenager
1516Could drive
1518Could vote
1521Turned 21
1530Turned 30
1540Turned 40
1550Turned 50
1560Turned 60
1570Turned 70
1571Died at 71
Key Achievements
- Crafted the Cellini Salt Cellar (1543), a masterpiece of goldsmithing and a defining work of Mannerist art.
- Sculpted the monumental bronze statue Perseus with the Head of Medusa, unveiled in Florence's Loggia dei Lanzi in 1554.
- Wrote a seminal autobiography, a foundational text in the genre for its vivid, first-person portrayal of an artist's life.
- Served as a master goldsmith for Pope Clement VII and King Francis I of France, creating numerous lost works of jewelry and plate.
Did You Know?
He claimed to have killed the Constable of Bourbon during the 1527 Sack of Rome and to have shot the Duke of Orange.
He was imprisoned in Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo on charges of embezzlement, from which he made a dramatic escape.
His autobiography was not published until 1730, over 150 years after his death.
He was formally trained as a musician before being apprenticed to a goldsmith.
“All men of whatsoever quality they be, who have done anything of excellence, ought to describe their life with their own hand.”
