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Book FirstPart XIX
Part XIX
At Siena I waited for the mail to Rome, which I afterwards joined; and
when we passed the Paglia, we met a courier carrying news of the new Pope,
Clement VII. Upon my arrival in Rome, I went to work in the shop of the
master-goldsmith Santi. He was dead; but a son of his carried on the business.
He did not work himself, but entrusted all his commissions to a young man
named Lucagnolo from Iesi, a country fellow, who while yet a child had come
into Santi`s service. This man was short but well proportioned, and was a more
skilful craftsman than any one whom I had met with up to that time; remarkable
for facility and excellent in design. He executed large plate only: that is to
say, vases of the utmost beauty, basons, and such pieces. ^1 Having put myself
to work there, I began to make some candelabra for the Bishop of Salamanca, a
Spaniard. ^2 They were richly chased, so far as that sort of work admits. A
pupil of Raffaello da Urbino called Gian Francesco, and commonly known as Il
Fattore, was a painter of great ability; and being on terms of friendship with
the Bishop, he introduced me to his favour, so that I obtained many
commissions from that prelate, and earned considerable sums of money. ^3
[Footnote 1: Cellini calls this grosseria.]
[Footnote 2: Don Francesco de Bobadilla. He came to Rome in 1517, was shut up
with Clement in the castle of S. Angelo in 1527, and died in 1529, after his
return to Spain.]
[Footnote 3: This painter, Gio. Francesco Penni, surnamed Il Fattore, aided
Raphael in his Roman frescoes and was much beloved by him. Together with
Giulio Romano he completed the imperfect Stanze of the Vatican.]
[See Giulio Romano: Giulio Romano, by himself.]
During the time I went to draw, sometimes in Michel Agnolo`s chapel, and
sometimes in the house of Agostino Chigi of Siena, which contained many
incomparable paintings by the hand of that great master Raffaello. ^4 This I
did on feast-days, because the house was then inhabited by Messer Gismondo,
Agostino`s brother. They plumed themselves exceedingly when they saw young men
of my sort coming to study in their palaces. Gismondo`s wife, noticing my
frequent presence in that house - she was a lady as courteous as could be, and
of surpassing beauty - came up to me one day, looked at my drawings, and asked
me if I was a sculptor or a painter; to whom I said I was a goldsmith. She
remarked that I drew too well for a goldsmith; and having made one of her
waiting-maids bring a lily of the finest diamonds set in gold, she showed it
to me, and bade me value it. I valued it at 800 crowns. Then she said that I
had very nearly hit the mark, and asked me whether I felt capable of setting
the stones really well. I said that I should much like to do so, and began
before her eyes to make a little sketch for it, working all the better because
of the pleasure I took in conversing with so lovely and agreeable a
gentlewoman. When the sketch was finished, another Roman lady of great beauty
joined us; she had been above, and now descending to the ground-floor, asked
Madonna Porzia what she was doing there. She answered with a smile: "I am
amusing myself by watching this worthy young man at his drawing; he is as good
as he is handsome." I had by this time acquired a trifle of assurance, mixed,
however, with some honest bashfulness; so I blushed and said: "Such as I am,
lady, I shall ever be most ready to serve you." The gentlewoman, also slightly
blushing, said: "You know well that I want you to serve me;" and reaching me
the lily, told me to take it away; and gave me besides twenty golden crowns
which she had in her bag, and added: "Set me the jewel after the fashion you
have sketched, and keep for me the old gold in which it is now set." On this
the Roman lady observed: "If I were in that young man`s body, I should go off
without asking leave." Madonna Porzia replied that virtues rarely are at home
with vices, and that if I did such a thing, I should strongly belie my good
looks of an honest man. Then turning round, she took the Roman lady`s hand,
and with a pleasant smile said: "Farewell, Benvenuto." I stayed on a short
while at the drawing I was making, which was a copy of a Jove by Raffaello.
When I had finished it and left the house, I set myself to making a little
model of wax, in order to show how the jewel would look when it was completed.
This I took to Madonna Porzia, whom I found with the same Roman lady. Both of
them were highly satisfied with my work, and treated me so kindly that, being
somewhat emboldened, I promised the jewel should be twice as good as the
model. Accordingly I set hand to it, and in twelve days I finished it in the
form of a fleur-de-lys, as I have said above, ornamenting it with little
masks, children, and animals, exquisitely enamelled, whereby the diamonds
which formed the lily were more than doubled in effect.
[Footnote 4: Cellini here alludes to the Sistine Chapel and to the Villa
Farnesina in Trastevere, built by the Sienese banker, Agostino Chigi. It was
here that Raphael painted his Galatea and the whole fable of Cupid and
Psyche.]
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