Chapter 17　Cellini Makes His Perseus

A man named Benvenuto Cellini became known as the best goldsmith in Italy. His work in gold, silver, and precious stones was so wonderful that the few examples we have now are all in museums and are considered priceless.

Cellini was a goldsmith but he believed he could create good sculpture too. Although he was very boastful about it he made good on every boast because his bronze statues turned out to be just as good as he said they would be.

Cellini lived in Florence, and the Duke of Florence asked him to make a bronze statue of Perseus beheading Medusa, the hideous monster. Cellini worked hard and long on the clay model for Perseus Beheading Medusa until he thought it was just right.Then came the work of casting the statue in bronze.

Today when a sculptor wants to make a bronze statue, he makes a clay model first and then sends it to a bronze foundry that makes the statue in bronze. This is easier for the sculptor because he can spend all his time on modeling statues and not have to do the work of bronze casting.But during the Renaissance a sculptor like Cellini generally had to make the bronze cast himself as well as the clay model.This was often a very hard thing for a sculptor to do.

Cellini's Perseus Beheading Medusa was to be larger than life-size and many people in Florence said that it would be impossible for Cellini, a goldsmith, to make a good bronze