born , Nov. 1, 1500, Florence
died Feb. 13, 1571, Florence
Italian sculptor and goldsmith active principally in Florence.
Early in his career he worked in Rome, producing coins, medallions, seals, vessels, and a variety of other objects in precious and semiprecious metals. In 1540 he began his most famous work of this type, a gold saltcellar encrusted with enamel, for Francis I at Fontainebleau; other royal commissions followed. For Cosimo I he produced large-scale sculpture in the round; the bronze Perseus (154553) in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence is his masterpiece. His fame owes as much to his autobiography as to his work as an artist; it achieved immediate popularity for its lively account of his tumultuous life and its vivid picture of Renaissance Italy.
Saltcellar of Francis I, encrusted enamel and gold, by Benvenuto Cellini, 1540; in the ...
By courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna