Biographies

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 – 1571) He was born in Florence, exiled when still young because of his fighting and dueling, and studied briefly with in Rome. He was a skilled sculptor and metal worker. Returning to Florence in 1545 he produced his major work of art, a statue of Perseus with the head of Medusa. He also wrote his autobiography, which made him more famous than his artworks and was the basis of the opera by Hector Berlioz. Needless to say, perhaps, he is very much the hero of his own text. Michelangelo Benvenuto Cellini