His Fame--His Autobiography--Its Value for the Student of History, Manners, and Character, in the Renaissance--Birth, Parentage, and Boyhood--Flute-playing--Apprenticeship to Marcone--Wanderjahr--The Goldsmith's Trade at Florence--Torrigiani and England--Cellini leaves Florence for Rome--Quarrel with the Guasconti--Homicidal Fury--Cellini a Law to Himself--Three Periods in his Manhood--Life in Rome--Diego at the Banquet--Renaissance Feeling for Physical Beauty--Sack of Rome--Miracles in Cellini's Life--His Affections--Murder of his Brother's Assassin--Sanctuary--Pardon and Absolution--Incantation in the Colosseum--First Visit to France--Adventures on the Way--Accused of Stealing Crown Jewels in Rome--Imprisonment in the Castle of S. Angelo--The Governor--Cellini's Escape--His Visions--The Nature of his Religion--Second Visit to France--The Wandering Court--Le Petit Nesle--Cellini in the French Law Courts--Scene at Fontainebleau--Return to Florence--Cosimo de' Medici as a Patron--Intrigues of a petty Court--Bandinelli--The Duchess--Statue of Perseus--End of Cellini's Life--Cellini and Machiavelli. Few names in the history of Italian art are more renowned than that of Benvenuto Cellini. This can hardly be attributed to the value of his extant works; for though, while he lived, he was the greatest goldsmith of his time, a skilled medallist and an admirable statuary, few of his many masterpieces now survive. The plate and armour that bear his name, are only in some rare instances genuine; and the bronze "Perseus" in the Loggia de' Lanzi at Florence remains almost alone to show how high he ranked among the later Tuscan sculptors. If, therefore, Cellini had been judged merely by the authentic productions of his art, he would not have acquired a celebrity unique among his fellow-workers of the sixteenth century. That fame he owes to the circumstance that he left behind him at his death a full and graphic narrative of his stormy life. The vivid style of this autobiography dictated by Cellini while still engaged in the labour of his craft, its animated picture of a powerful character, the variety of its incidents, and the amount of information it contains, place it high both as a life-romance and also as a record of contemporary history. After studying the laboured periods of Varchi, we turn to these memoirs, and view the same events from the standpoint of an artisan conveying his impressions with plebeian raciness of phrase. The sack of Rome, the plague and siege of Florence, the humiliation of Clement VII., the pomp of Charles V. at Rome, the behaviour of the Florentine exiles at Ferrara, the intimacy between Alessandro de' Medici and his murderer, Lorenzino, the policy of Paul III., and the method pursued by Cosimo at Florence, are briefly but significantly touched upon--no longer by the historian seeking causes and setting forth the sequence of events, but by a shrewd observer interested in depicting his own part in the great game of life.