Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino.

CELLINI, Benevenuto (1500-1571)

Published by Par Pietro Martello [1792], Colonia [ie. Naples], 1792

About this Item

4to (250 x 185mm). [xvi], 318pp., [2], [8, index]. Signatures: * ; A-Z; Aa-Rr (Rr4 blank). Dedicated to Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, signed Seb. Artopolita (ie. Cocchi). Title page printed in red and black. Four woodcut initials, three historiated with Renaissance putti. Contemporary Italian vellum; (wide clean margins and very appealing). Genuine First Naples Edition of the famous autobiography of 16th-century Mannerist sculptor Benevenuto Cellini. The Vita di Benvenuto Cellini remains the fullest account of Cellini s remarkable career as Florentine sculptor foundational to the Mannerist art movement. It is presented through the filter of his own memory, as an autobiography, and the linguistic aspects are as audacious as many of the events of the sculptor s life. It has been considered and published as a classic, and commonly regarded as one of the most colorful autobiographies (certainly the most important autobiography from the Renaissance). The Vita was begun in 1558, when Cellini was 58 years old, or possibly in the previous year when Cellini was under house arrest. Working intermittently on the work for almost a decade, it seems Cellini s intention was to leave a record of his life for posterity and that his Vita should act both as an apologia and further demonstration of his qualities as a universal man. Cellini was notoriously contentious and a prominent pro-Medici. Among his known and frequent public altercations, he was officially accused or charged at least three times of the crime of sodomy with men, and on one occasion with a woman. Cellini also memorably escaped the Castel Sant Angelo after an apparently false charge of embezzlement; he was recaptured and only released at the aid of the Cardinal d Este of Ferrara. The Vita recounts some extraordinary events and phenomena in Cellini s life including his supernatural visions and ends abruptly in the year 1563- though he lived until 1571. The Vita remained unpublished during Cellini's lifetime, though contemporaries such as Giorgio Vasari, himself an important art-historical chronicler, knew of its existence. Benedetto Varchi, another in the Medici circle, may also have read it. The manuscript was believed lost, though imperfect 17th-century copies existed. These copies circulated to Filippo Baldinucci and Antonio Cocchi, who issued this Naples edition ( legal edition) in 1728. Counterfeit copies were printed by Bartolini to discount the original (Cicognara cites place of publication as Florence and date of publication as 1730). The Vita while hugely important is not uncommon in large art history collections. Seller Inventory # D7300

Bibliographic Details

Title: Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore...

Publisher: Par Pietro Martello [1792], Colonia [ie. Naples]

Publication Date: 1792

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition