Home | Best Seller | FAQ | Contact Us
Browse
Art & Photography
Biographies & Autobiography
Body,Mind & Health
Business & Economics
Children's Book
Computers & Internet
Cooking
Crafts,Hobbies & Gardening
Entertainment
Family & Parenting
History
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Detective
Nonfiction
Professional & Technology
Reference
Religion
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports & Outdoors
Travel & Geography
   Book Info

enlarge picture

Life of Benvenuto Cellini: Volume I  
Author: Benvenuto Cellini
ISBN: 0898753384
Format: Handover
Publish Date: June, 2005
 
     
     
   Book Review


Book Description
Volume one of a two volume set Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was one of the enigmatic, larger-than-life figures of the Italian Renaissance: a celebrated sculptor, goldsmith, author and soldier, but also a hooligan and even avenging killer. Cellini produced several of his most celebrated works at Fontainebleau and Paris, including a salt cellar (now in the museum at Vienna) and large silver statues (subsequently lost) of Jupiter, Vulcan and Mars. Characteristically, Cellini became embroiled in disputes with those around him and in 1545 he returned at last to his native Florence, where he remained until his death in 1571. At Florence Cellini created one of the most celebrated works of his long career and one of the notable monuments of the Italian Renaissance, the bronze figure Perseus holding the Head of Medusa. Other acclaimed statuary of the period include Ganymede on the Eagle and a bust of Cosimo I de Medici, both now in the Bargello Museum in Florence. Much of Cellini's notoriety, and perhaps even fame, derives from his memoirs, begun in 1558 and abandoned in 1562. As noted in the introduction, "His amours and hatreds, his passions and delights, his love of the sumptuous and the exquisite in art, his self-applause and self-assertion, make this one of the most singular and fascinating books in existence." The work was edited and translated by John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), one of the foremost men of letters of his time. He was a preeminent Victorian poet, critic, and historian. He is renowned for his reviews, essays, translations, art histories, and poetry. Symonds joined the rarified ranks of John Ruskin and Walter Pater as a major arbiter of Victorian taste. His books Renaissance in Italy and Life of Michaelangelo are landmarks of 19th-century literary scholasticism.




Life of Benvenuto Cellini: Volume I

     



Home | Private Policy | Contact Us
@copyright 2001-2005 ReadingBee.com