_benvenuto cellini and perseus _
By: marco
Benvenuto Cellini and the Creation of Perseus My name is Bernardino
Mannellini. I am now working on my own trying to succeed as a sculptor here in
Rome. I have found the job extremely difficult, but it was expected after my
apprenticeship with the great sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini. He was not the most
famous but was equally deserving as such great sculptors as Michel Agnolo
Buonarroti. This is why I write to you today. Cellini produced one of the most
beautiful works of this time in his masterpiece of Perseus. It was a
remarkable feat whose story cannot go untold (Huntley 251)Cellini and I had
arrived in Florence from France for a short while. Although he was very
successful in France under the encouragement of Majesty King Francis, Cellini
wanted very much to revisit his birthplace of Florence. He quickly became
known to the Duke and did a few works for him. First, the colossal bronze bust
of his Excellency; secondly, a restoration of the Ganymede in marble which
cost a great deal of difficulty; and thirdly, the Medusa head cast in bronze.
Succeeding well with Medusa, Cellini wanted to start on a cast of Perseus
holding the head of Medusa (Cellini 410) Cellini made the wax model which
came out beautifully, but I was questionable to whether it would come out in
bronze as did the Medusa. Apparently the Duke agreed with me when Cellini went
to speak to him of the project he was working on. His Excellency was struck by
the beauty of the wax model but questioned how it would succeed in bronze with
Perseus grasping the head of Medusa so high. The statue would stand ten and a
half feet tall if completed with Perseus’s hand holding the head of Medusa
high in front of him. It was clear why his Excellency was concerned for how
Cellini would complete the bronze statue. I was standing aside from Cellini as
he tried to assure the Duke that the statue would succeed. Cellini pleaded “My
lord, I know how very little confidence you have in me; and I believe the
reason of this is that your most illustrious Excellency lends too ready an ear
to my calumniators, or else indeed that you do not understand my art.” His
Excellency argued that he did understand the arts and answered, “I will listen
patiently to any argument you can possibly produce in explanation of your
statement, which may convince me of its probability.” Cellini now explained
how when filling the mould the nature of fire is to ascend, and therefore
Medusa’s head will indeed come out famously. He also explained that since the
nature of fire is not to descend that the foot would not come out whole. After
listening to the convincing arguments, his Excellency stood shaking his head
and departed without any further words (Cellini 410) Abandoned to our own
resources, we took new courage banishing any sad thoughts which occurred.
Cellini often wept bitter tears for ever leaving France. Nevertheless, he
revealed to me he was convinced that when Perseus was accomplished, all
sadness would be overturned to glorious well-being. We then set out with
strength and what little money still remained to order loads of pinewood from
the forests of Serristori. The reason we ordered pinewood was because it was
abundant and offered a slow fire as opposed to oak-wood. While the wood was on
its way Cellini wrapped Perseus with clay he had prepared many months before
to assure that it was justly dry. After completing the clay tunic and properly
fencing it with iron beams we started to draw out the wax by melting it with a
slow fire. The wax issued through numerous air-vents leaving a hollow mould
with a slightly smaller solid model inside. After the wax was drawn, I helped
Cellini with his construction of a funnel-shaped furnace around the Perseus
mould. It was built of bricks well spaced to allow numerous openings for the
fire to exhale. The furnace was then fed wood and stood burning for a couple
of days until the mould was well-baked. We next started to dig a pit in which
to sink the model. The mould was lifted by ropes and we carefully lowered it
into the pit. After lowering it successfully, we surrounded the mould with the
excavated dirt. During the digging of the pit several work-people had been
working with us (Cellini 413) Everything was now set, and Cellini had placed
numerous pigs of copper and bronze resting one upon the other so that the
flames could go freely through them. This would cause the metal to heat and
liquefy sooner. Finally, the furnace could get going with the pinewood already
in place. The furnace was lit and worked so well that Cellini rushed from end
to end to keep it going. Keeping the furnace going was difficult labor because
it was going to take a lot of heat to melt the metals. To add to the anxiety
our workshop took fire and a storm of wind and rain blew outside obviously
causing the furnace to cool somewhat (Cellini 414) We battled the
unfavorable circumstances for several hours when suddenly Cellini took ill
with an intense fever. He was forced to his bed. He first told me that the
metals would soon be fused and the mould would fill easily. He said he was so
much in pain that he must surely die in a few hours. I did not understand why
he was talking this way, but he left for bed. I was left there with the other
workers to continue, but something went wrong. The metal was thickening and
not flowing. We couldn’t get it to heat up. One of the workers went to tell
Cellini that the statue had been spoiled when I suddenly heard a howl of fury.
Cellini was rampaging towards the workshop hitting anything or anyone in his
way. He entered the workshop and spoke: “Up with you! Attend to me! Since you
have not been able or willing to obey the directions I gave you, obey me now
that I am with you to conduct my work in person. Let no one contradict me, for
in cases like this we need the aid of hand and hearing, not of advice.” He
took a look at the furnace and then ordered the workers to fetch some oak-wood
across the street that was offered to him previously. The oak-wood, which
burns powerfully, took quick blaze and the furnace began to glow and sparkle.
Meanwhile, there was violent rain outside and I was wondering what had
happened to his fever (Cellini 416) The metal was now about to melt and
Cellini ordered a sixty-pound block of bronze to be tossed in the furnace.
With this the metal was quickly beginning to liquefy. I grabbed an iron rod
along with Cellini and started to stir the channels in which the metal would
travel into the mould. All of a sudden an explosion took place with a
tremendous flame, as if a thunderbolt had struck us. Everyone was in
astonishment as the light finally went away. I then looked to the furnace and
discovered the cap had blown off and the bronze was bubbling. A miracle had
taken place as Cellini went to pull the plugs and allow the bronze to flow
into the mould. At this time we were grabbing dishes, bowls , and any metal
items and tossing them into the furnace. The bronze was in perfect
liquefaction. All were now joyous in laughter as this miracle was being
experienced. We had all doubted this man but were now proven wrong. But
Cellini had forgotten all as we sat and drank together. Then he told us how
weird it was that his fever was totally forgotten. It seemed some demon had
enraged him and scared the illness away from this man who felt he was dying.
We all departed now for rest about two hours before morning (Cellini 418).
Two days had passed for the statue to cool. Cellini and I began to uncover
the statue slowly. The Medusa head came out beautifully just as Cellini
predicted along with the rest of the statue. This was until he reached the
right foot whose toes were not complete. This was great, however, because it
was exactly what Cellini had predicted to the Duke (Cellini 419) We finally
headed to Pisa where the Duke was currently located. He had already received
news of Perseus and greeted us graciously. He, however, deemed the
accomplishment far more stupendous hearing it from the mouth of Cellini. He
bade Cellini to complete Perseus as soon as possible for he would pay more for
it than what it was worth (Cheney 49) Cellini would go on to complete and
sell Perseus. It was placed at the Piazza della Signoria in Florence by the
Duke. Cellini never became a well-known sculptor in Italy, but I will always
remember that remarkable day. I believe him to be one of the greatest
sculptors of the time and now you have heard the tale of Benvenuto Cellini and
Perseus (Rizzoli 153).
_Bibliography _
Works Cited Cellini, Benvenuto. Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Random
House, 1971. Cheney, Sheldon W. Sculpture of the World. Viking, 1968. Huntley,
Haydn J. “Benvenuto Cellini” World Book. 1986ed. 251. “Sculpture.” Rizzoli,
1986- . Multivolume work. A historical survey.
Word Count: 1533
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