by Benvenuto Cellini

Acelebrated goldsmith, sculptor, and writer, Benvenuto Cellini (1500-71) memorialized his notorious life in one of the world’s earliest surviving autobiographies. He was born November 3, 1500, in Florence to Giovanni Cellini and Elisabetta Granacci. His father, a musician and instrument maker, wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, and for years Cellini struggled between complying and heeding his own artistic ambitions. Finally at age 14, against his father’s will, Cellini became apprenticed to a goldsmith. Within months he rivaled the most skilled goldsmiths in the field. Shortly thereafter, in 1516, Cellini experienced the first of many encounters with the law when he violently defended his brother in an attack. Thereafter, Cellini was three times accused of sodomy and twice penalized for the offense. He went to work in the studio of the well-known goldsmith, Ulivieri della Chiostra, in Pisa until Cellini killed a man...