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Book FirstPart LX
Part LX
It happened that Cardinal Salviati, who, as I have related, entertained
an old hostility against me, had been appointed Legate to Parma. In that city
a certain Milanese goldsmith, named Tobbia, was taken up for false coining,
and condemned to the gallows and the stake. Representations in his favour, as
being a man of great ability, were made to the Cardinal, who suspended the
execution of the sentence, and wrote to the Pope, saying the best goldsmith in
the world had come into his hands, sentenced to death for coining false money,
but that he was a good simple fellow, who could plead in his excuse that he
had taken counsel with his confessor, and had received, as he said, from him
permission to do this. Thereto he added: "If you send for this great artist to
Rome, your Holiness will bring down the overweening arrogance of your
favourite Benvenuto, and I am quite certain that Tobbia`s work will please you
far more than his." The Pope accordingly sent for him at once; and when the
man arrived, he made us both appear before him, and commissioned each of us to
furnish a design for mounting an unicorn`s horn, the finest which had ever
been seen, and which had been sold for 17,000 ducats of the Camera. The Pope
meant to give it to King Francis; but first he wished it richly set in gold,
and ordered us to make sketches for this purpose. When they were finished, we
took them to the Pope. That of Tobbia was in the form of a candlestick, the
horn being stuck in it like a candle, and at the base of the piece he had
introduced four little unicorns` heads of a very poor design. When I saw the
thing, I could not refrain from laughing gently in my sleeve. The Pope noticed
this, and cried: "Here, show me your sketch!" It was a single unicorn`s head,
proportioned in size to the horn. I had designed the finest head imaginable;
for I took it partly from the horse and partly from the stag, enriching it
with fantastic mane and other ornaments. Accordingly, no sooner was it seen,
than every one decided in my favour. There were, however, present at the
competition certain Milanese gentlemen of the first consequence, who said:
"Most blessed Father, your Holiness is sending this magnificent present into
France; please to reflect that the French are people of no culture, and will
not understand the excellence of Benvenuto`s work; pyxes like this one of
Tobbia`s will suit their taste well, and these too can be finished quicker. ^1
Benvenuto will devote himself to completing your chalice, and you will get two
pieces done in the same time; moreover, this poor man, whom you have brought
to Rome, will have the chance to be employed." The Pope, who was anxious to
obtain his chalice, very willingly adopted the advice of the Milanese
gentlefolk.
[Footnote 1: The word I have translated pyxes is ciborii, vessels for holding
the Eucharist.]
Next day, therefore, he commissioned Tobbia to mount the unicorn`s horn,
and sent his Master of the Wardrobe to bid me finish the chalice. ^2 I replied
that I desired nothing in the world more than to complete the beautiful work I
had begun: and if the material had been anything but gold, I could very easily
have done so myself; but it being gold, his Holiness must give me some of the
metal if he wanted me to get through with my work. To this the vulgar courtier
answered: "Zounds! don`t ask the Pope for gold, unless you mean to drive him
into such a fury as will ruin you." I said: "Oh, my good lord, will your
lordship please to tell me how one can make bread without flour? Even so
without gold this piece of mine cannot be finished." The Master of the
Wardrobe, having an inkling that I had made a fool of him, told me he should
report all I had spoken to his Holiness; and this he did. The Pope flew into a
bestial passion, and swore he would wait to see if I was so mad as not to
finish it. More than two months passed thus; and though I had declared I would
not give a stroke to the chalice, I did not do so, but always went on working
with the greatest interest. When he perceived I was not going to bring it, he
began to display real displeasure, and protested he would punish me in one way
or another.
[Footnote 2: The Master of the Wardrobe was at that time Giovanni Aleotti. I
need hardly remind my readers that Guardaroba or wardrobe was the apartment in
a palace where arms, plate, furniture, and clothes were stored. We shall find,
when we come to Cellini`s service under Duke Cosimo, that princes spent much
of their time in this place.]
A jeweller from Milan in the Papal service happened to be present when
these words were spoken. He was called Pompeo, and was closely related to
Messer Trajano, the most favoured servant of Pope Clement. The two men came,
upon a common understanding, to him and said: "If your Holiness were to
deprive Benvenuto of the Mint, perhaps he would take it into his head to
complete the chalice." To this the Pope answered" "No; two evil things would
happen: first, I should be ill served in the Mint, which concerns me greatly;
and secondly, I should certainly not get the chalice." The two Milanese,
observing the Pope indisposed towards me, at last so far prevailed that he
deprived me of the Mint, and gave it to a young Perugian, commonly known as
Fagiuolo. ^3 Pompeo came to inform me that his Holiness had taken my place in
the Mint away, and that if I did not finish the chalice, he would deprive me
of other things besides. I retorted: "Tell his Holiness that he has deprived
himself and not me of the Mint, and that he will be doing the same with regard
to those other things of which he speaks; and that if he wants to confer the
post on me again, nothing will induce me to accept it." The graceless and
unlucky fellow went off like an arrow to find the Pope and report this
conversation; he added also something of his own invention. Eight days later,
the Pope sent the same man to tell me that he did not mean me to finish the
chalice, and wanted to have it back precisely at the point to which I had
already brought it. I told Pompeo: "This thing is not like the Mint, which it
was in his power to take away; but five hundred crowns which I received belong
to his Holiness, and I am ready to return them; the piece itself is mine, and
with it I shall do what I think best." Pompeo ran off to report my speech,
together with some biting words which in my righteous anger I had let fly at
himself.
[Footnote 3: Vasari mentions a Girolamo Fagiuoli, who flourished at this
period but calls him a Bolognese.]
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