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The Autobiography Of Benvenuto Cellini
Benvenuto Cellini was a celebrated Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith - a passionate craftsman who was admired and resented by the most powerful political and artistic personalities in sixteenth-century Florence, Rome and Paris. He was also a murderer and a braggart, a shameless adventurer who at different times experienced both papal persecution and imprisonment, and the
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Paperback
,
496 pages
Published
November 1st 1999
by "Penguin Classics"
(first published 1558)
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LIFE AMONGST METALS
Benvenuto Cellini (1500- 1571) was an extraordinary personality. As a goldsmith, a warrior, a musician and a writer, he certainly did not lack skills. But I shall refer to him as Benvenuto, Mister Welcome. He was named so after a wait of eighteen years by his parents, but if he becomes congenial to us also it is because after reading his memoirs one feels so much closer to him. He started writing his Life at the age of fifty-eight but he ended it abruptly, for unknown reason ...more
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Feb 23, 2014
K.D. Absolutely
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to K.D. by:
501 Must Read Books (Memoirs)
"All men who have accomplished anything worthwhile should set down the story of their own lives with their own hands. But they should wait before undertaking so delicate an enterprise until they have passed the age of 40,"
says Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) in the opening chapter of this book,
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
first published in Italy in 1728. This is one of the earliest classic autobiographies in the world eclipsed only by the likes of Saint Augustine's
Confessions
(3 st
...more
To read this, one wonders how Cellini survived to age 20, much less age 70! He is constantly killing and being attacked, wenching his models, contracting hideous illnesses (or noting in passing the constant unexpected death of others), and being betrayed (by this account) or insulting others. It's an endless exhausting cycle such that even Cellini had to notice its futility and danger. One has to wonder how much he exaggerates: aside from the demonology and weather-controlling, it seems so routi
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Absolument génial. Ce livre va inspirer Stendhal. Une vie incroyable d'un contemporain de Michel ange, léonard de vinci. L'évasion du château saint ange vaut le détour.
Italians do it better, don't they? Well, I think I just found myself a new role model of self-confidence.
Benvenuto Cellini was first and foremost a goldsmith and a sculptor, but he made himself known and appreciated also as a flute player, a draftsman and a talented writer. He was nonetheless a brave soldier and a clever strategist.
Of course that for the most part of his autobiography he blows his own trumpet, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's a firsthand account of his experience in th ...more
Benvenuto Cellini was first and foremost a goldsmith and a sculptor, but he made himself known and appreciated also as a flute player, a draftsman and a talented writer. He was nonetheless a brave soldier and a clever strategist.
Of course that for the most part of his autobiography he blows his own trumpet, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's a firsthand account of his experience in th ...more
If you want people to be reading your autobiography almost more than five hundred years later, write as entertaining a book as this one. A treasure.
Sep 05, 2015
Udi
added it
אני לא נוהג לכתוב סקירות או לדרג, אבל האוטוביוגרפיה הכל כך טובה הזאת הפתיעה אותי, להלן:
הצורף, פסל, משורר, אסיר וחייל השחצן, אלים, גוזמאי ולעתים אולי קצת שקרן בנוונוטו צ'ליני (1500-1571) נחשב לאמן הצורפות הגדול ביותר של הרנסנס האיטלקי. בהתחשב בגאווה העצמית הכבירה שחש צ'ליני כלפי כשרונו, יש מן האירוניה בעובדה שמעטות הן עבודותיו ששרדו וקיימות כיום, ושהוא מפורסם בעקר בזכות האוטוביוגרפיה.
זהו מסמך ייחודי ומרתק בכמה רמות: חשיפה נמרצת וכנה של אופי מורכב ומסובך; לטקסט חשיבות הסטורית בשל תאור חיי האמן בן ...more
הצורף, פסל, משורר, אסיר וחייל השחצן, אלים, גוזמאי ולעתים אולי קצת שקרן בנוונוטו צ'ליני (1500-1571) נחשב לאמן הצורפות הגדול ביותר של הרנסנס האיטלקי. בהתחשב בגאווה העצמית הכבירה שחש צ'ליני כלפי כשרונו, יש מן האירוניה בעובדה שמעטות הן עבודותיו ששרדו וקיימות כיום, ושהוא מפורסם בעקר בזכות האוטוביוגרפיה.
זהו מסמך ייחודי ומרתק בכמה רמות: חשיפה נמרצת וכנה של אופי מורכב ומסובך; לטקסט חשיבות הסטורית בשל תאור חיי האמן בן ...more
I loved this book. Cellini is a gas and tells his story (supercalabragadocious) and all the while, you learn about what Italy was like for an artist in his time. I like to read this aloud to my family as if I myself am Benvenuto. Free comedy.
an invaluable text that provides a unique look into the high renaissance period. cellini was a sculptor and goldsmith not quite on par with the greats like da vinci or michelangelo, but appears to be well received enough. he also had an explosive temper, killed several people in duels, survived wars, the plague, prison, poison, and made all sorts of colorful enemies throughout his life and career. while cellini himself was certainly a scumbag, its no surprise that the biggest scumbags of them al
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This book brings the Italian Renaissance to life in the figure of master goldsmith Cellini. Not a work of literature, but a passionate tale by a passionate artist, laying bare his ego, that made me understand what it really meant to be a Renassance Man.
Relatively enjoyable - his viewpoint is not to trust in the least, according to him, he was more or less the best artist who ever lived, and all his enemies were idiots or worse. The book is great fun when he describes how he plotted to murder his enemies, how he got into fights about basically nothing, and how he single-handedly escaped from prison.
Sometimes drags _a lot_ when he describes politics.
Sometimes drags _a lot_ when he describes politics.
Art history can be boring but this is art history first hand. If you want to go back to the renaissance this is the book for you. Celllini knew his own talent and did us all a great favor by giving us his account of the time.
I would love to see someone try to make a movie, even a movie trilogy, out of this book. It's so action-packed and some of the things that happen in the book are so crazy that you'd swear that such things were only possible in dreams, wild imaginings, and movies.
There's so much that happens to Cellini over the course of one lifetime that it's hard to believe that it actually happened; it's even crazier that some of Cellini's autobiography has been confirmed by historians, though if you want to ...more
There's so much that happens to Cellini over the course of one lifetime that it's hard to believe that it actually happened; it's even crazier that some of Cellini's autobiography has been confirmed by historians, though if you want to ...more
One of the great godfathers of the memoir genre is arguably Benvenuto Cellini, a Florentine polymath of the High Renaissance, who penned his life story over five years between 1558 and 1563 when the sculptor was in his early sixties. No doubt one of the inspirations for the autobiography was to present his side of the story, a defense of lifestyle anticipating whatever disagreeable remembrances his many enemies (legion in numbers) might put down in writing. Though Cellini does his very best to p ...more
One of the funniest autobiographies ever written though not deliberately meant to be. Cellini is a complete blowhard who seriously over estimates his own importance and brilliance. If any of these recollections are accurate you can just imagine the puzzled or contemptuous looks on the faces' of the other people in the scene once loudmouth exits stage left. His interactions with popes and nobility are particularly amusing. It is a fascinating read in terms of 16th century Florence, Rome and Franc
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Aug 31, 2013
Marcia
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2013-around-the-world
,
history-non-fiction
My parents bought us a set of classic books over fifty years ago. It had some books that I read and others like Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini that never interested me at all. I couldn't imagine why it was even in the set. I'd never heard of it from anywhere.
A few years ago we went to Italy and on our travels stayed in an apartment in Florence. The owner of the building claimed that it had been the family home of Benvenuto Cellini. That was when a connection was made across time and space - ...more
A few years ago we went to Italy and on our travels stayed in an apartment in Florence. The owner of the building claimed that it had been the family home of Benvenuto Cellini. That was when a connection was made across time and space - ...more
Benvenuto Cellini was a Renaissance era goldsmith and sculptor, contemporary of Michelangelo, Vasari and others.
Cellini's autobiographyis a treasure, in that it relates personal stories of some the best known names of Renaissance Italy. Cellini parties with Michelangelo, argues with Pope Clement VII, and creates works of art for Francis I of France and Cosimo I de' Medici.
Even better than the Art History lesson, however, is reading Cellini's autobiography as the story of a cocky and self-assured ...more
Cellini's autobiographyis a treasure, in that it relates personal stories of some the best known names of Renaissance Italy. Cellini parties with Michelangelo, argues with Pope Clement VII, and creates works of art for Francis I of France and Cosimo I de' Medici.
Even better than the Art History lesson, however, is reading Cellini's autobiography as the story of a cocky and self-assured ...more
I imagine that I could summarize Cellini's autobiography as a sort of very short, one-act play:
Act 1, Scene 1
CELLINI is stark naked in front of a big mirror inside his room
CELLINI: (speaking to himself) I have such a big penis! It is perfectly shaped, too! I am thus not surprised why whores would pay me to suck it!
Cellini strokes his penis until white fluid comes out
CELLINI: This juice is of the highest caliber, that odalisques line up to partake of it - and these sticky hands are blessed by God ...more
Act 1, Scene 1
CELLINI is stark naked in front of a big mirror inside his room
CELLINI: (speaking to himself) I have such a big penis! It is perfectly shaped, too! I am thus not surprised why whores would pay me to suck it!
Cellini strokes his penis until white fluid comes out
CELLINI: This juice is of the highest caliber, that odalisques line up to partake of it - and these sticky hands are blessed by God ...more
This is fascinating: Benvenuto was a self-obsessed, but well-connected Italian artist during the Renaissance. He talks quite openly here about gossiping with the pope, holding black magic sessions in the middle of the night in the Pantheon, and continually reminds us how good he is!
If you ever want to read a historical autobiography that is as diverting and gripping as any novel, grab this. I know nothing about the Renaissance or Italy - and still don't - but I now know a great deal about this c ...more
If you ever want to read a historical autobiography that is as diverting and gripping as any novel, grab this. I know nothing about the Renaissance or Italy - and still don't - but I now know a great deal about this c ...more
If you are going to take the time to write an autobiography, then by gosh you outta make it the story of a life time. Boy does Cellini have his Renaissance swagger on. If I ever write my autobiography, I hope I am half as inventive. 90% bravado + 8% maybe it happened + 2 % wow, this is a firsthand account from the 1500's. I can't explain it - but I really love this crazy book.
I have to say, the story in and of it's own right was amazing -- made all the more special by the circumstances through which I received the book. Gifted to me by my aging Sicilian Spanish professor after my other copy was ruined, a note in the book said to give the book to a worthy student.
Cellini expounds on many and most of the grand universal human themes with stark yet charming panache. Whether it's dealing with adversaries, illness, faith, love, or adjusting to change, Cellini to me seemed ...more
Cellini expounds on many and most of the grand universal human themes with stark yet charming panache. Whether it's dealing with adversaries, illness, faith, love, or adjusting to change, Cellini to me seemed ...more
It's always fascinating to read the words of long dead ancients, but unfortunately hyperbole and braggadocio seems to have been a Cellini hobby, which destroys any sense of history coming to life.
"There-at, the Pope, raising his hand, and making a large open sign of the cross upon my face, told me that he blessed me, and that he gave me pardon for all the murders I had perpetrated, or should ever perpetrate, in the service of the apostolic church."
This is an adventure story of Renaissance Florence, the Medicis, war, sculpture, popes and France. I laughed at Cellini's statement (above) for its absurdity, but it turned out to be typical Cellini. He creates jewelry and sculpture for the we ...more
This is an adventure story of Renaissance Florence, the Medicis, war, sculpture, popes and France. I laughed at Cellini's statement (above) for its absurdity, but it turned out to be typical Cellini. He creates jewelry and sculpture for the we ...more
The notes were most times annoying and the story incredible- and I mean that in the literal sense of the word.
"All men, whatever be their condition, who have done anything of merit, or which verily has a semblance of merit, if so be they are men of truth and good repute, should write the tale of their life with their own hand."I was compelled to read Cellini’s Autobiography after I read Muriel Spark’s Loitering With Intent, where the protagonist, Fleur Talbot mentioned this book a number of times and even so far saying it was her favorite book (at the time). Spark even quoted the above passage in her ...more
While his life certainly does sound interesting, I'd rather read someone else's account. I had a similar problem reading Benvenuto Cellini's autobiography as I did with Salvador Dali - egomanical, genius artists are fascinating characters and terribly irritating narrators. Cellini writes in a series of interconnected, very short stories about himself that sound like the breathless bragging of a sugar-charged, homeschooled child whose parents never tell him 'No'.
Beneath the terrible voice and rep ...more
Beneath the terrible voice and rep ...more
Altra fortunata scoperta di bancarelle e mercatini del libro usato. Di questa autobiografia, godibilissima, dell'orefice e scultore fiorentino Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) non saprei dire di meglio di quanto scrive il critico letterario Giuseppe Baretti nel 1763 circa:
... Noi non abbiamo alcun libro della nostra lingua tanto dilettevole a leggersi quanto la Vita di quel Benvenuto Cellini scritta da lui medesimo nel puro e pretto parlare della plebe fiorentina. Quel Cellini dipinse quivi se stes...more
When you get a first-person account from 500 years ago, you really hope to read about details of everyday life, what people ate, where they lived, what they wore..
but of course those are not the things people think to record, nor it is it Cellini's intent to record the minutiae of every day life.. Instead, this is Cellini's attempt to set the record straight against anyone who he feels hard done by , i.e. everyone. He is constantly mortally offended, and takes revenge, occasionally violently. He ...more
but of course those are not the things people think to record, nor it is it Cellini's intent to record the minutiae of every day life.. Instead, this is Cellini's attempt to set the record straight against anyone who he feels hard done by , i.e. everyone. He is constantly mortally offended, and takes revenge, occasionally violently. He ...more
I enjoyed listening to this audiobook during a long road trip. It's a fascinating first-person account of life in 16th-century Italy (and France) by a true Renaissance man. He is astonishingly sure of himself, and critical of virtually everyone else. This ferocious arrogance can at times be humorous but eventually it gets very old -- the same cycle plays out again and again throughout the book: some other artist or craftsman envies his own superior skill, and insults him in some way, and he proc
...more
A brilliant read. The story is told from Cellini's vivacious viewpoint, and there' no dull moments.
It is true that Cellini is particularly headstrong, and it becomes difficult at times to read all of his self-assured remonstrations concerning himself (this was a man with a lot of self-belief), but equally, the almost childlike level of confidence is quite refreshing to read.
There is a clarity and excitement that hangs over this work that is rare to find in almost any other biographical works I ...more
It is true that Cellini is particularly headstrong, and it becomes difficult at times to read all of his self-assured remonstrations concerning himself (this was a man with a lot of self-belief), but equally, the almost childlike level of confidence is quite refreshing to read.
There is a clarity and excitement that hangs over this work that is rare to find in almost any other biographical works I ...more
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