posture of support; but I varied his features and some other details; in
his hand, for instance, he held a lash with three balls attached to
chains. Though I call them satyrs, they showed nothing of the satyr
except little horns and a goatish head; all the rest of their form was
human. In the lunette above I placed a female figure lying in an
attitude of noble grace; she rested her left arm on a stag’s neck, this
animal being one of the King’s emblems. On one side I worked little
fawns in half relief, with some wild boars and other game in lower
relief; on the other side were hounds and divers dogs of the chase of
several species, such as may be seen in that fair forest where the
fountain springs. The whole of this composition was enclosed in an
oblong, each angle of which contained a Victory in bas-relief, holding
torches after the manner of the ancients. Above the oblong was a
salamander, the King’s particular device, with many other ornaments
appropriate to the Ionic architecture of the whole design.
Note 1. Cellini refers to the renewal of hostilities in May 1542.
XXII
WHEN the King had seen this model, it restored him to cheerfulness, and
distracted his mind from the fatiguing debates he had been holding
during the past two hours. Seeing him cheerful as I wished, I uncovered
the other model, which he was far from expecting, since he not
unreasonably judged that the first had work in it enough. This one was a
little higher than two cubits; it figured a fountain shaped in a perfect
square, with handsome steps all round, intersecting each other in a way
which was unknown in France, and is indeed very uncommon in Italy. In
the middle of the fountain I set a pedestal, projecting somewhat above
the margin of the basin, and upon this a nude male figure, of the right
proportion to the whole design, and of a very graceful form. In his
right hand he raised a broken lance on high; his left hand rested on a
scimitar; he was poised upon the left foot, the right being supported by
a helmet of the richest imaginable workmanship. At each of the four
angles of the fountain a figure was sitting, raised above the level of
the base, and accompanied by many beautiful and appropriate emblems.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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