Benvenuto Cellini
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [1]
A celebrated engraver, sculptor, and goldsmith, a most versatile and erratic genius, born at Florence; had to leave Florence for a bloody fray he was involved in, and went to Rome; wrought as a goldsmith there for 20 years, patronised by the nobles; killed the Constable de Bourbon at the sack of the city, and for this received plenary indulgence from the Pope; Francis I. attracted him to his court and kept him in his service five years, after which he returned to Florence and executed his famous bronze "Perseus with the Head of Medusa," which occupied him four years; was a man of a quarrelsome temper, which involved him in no end of scrapes with sword as well as tongue; left an autobiography, from its self-dissection of the deepest interest to all students of human nature (1500-1571).
