In 1558 Cellini received the tonsure of the first ecclesiastical orders, which he renounced two years later and married. He died at the age of 70, leaving three legitimate children.
The great achievement of the last Florentine period was his statue Perseus, a bronze repre senting a beautiful and perfectly molded, but entirely expressionless youth, carrying the head of Medusa. In the niches of its base are small figures of gods, which in their absolute perfec tion of detail are unequalled anywhere; and a relief of 'Perseus Rescuing Andromeda,' the original of which is now in the Bargello. The statue was completed in 1554 and was unveiled in the Loggia dei Lauzi at Florence, where it now stands. He enjoyed lavish praise for this marvelously overwrought masterpiece. Other important statues are the colossal bust of Duke Cosimo I (1545-48); the bronze bust of Bindo Aldoviti (1566, Gardner collection, Boston); and the life-size 'Crucifixion,' intended for his own tomb. But it was in the art of the gold smith that Cellini excelled. Unfortunately few of these works survive. Among the most notable that have come down to us are the saltcellar of Francis I (now in the museum at Vienna). It is embossed in gold and enamel, and orna mented with figures of Neptune and Cybele in high relief. Many very beautiful works in the museums of modern collectors have been ascribed to him —among them two cups in the J. P. Morgan and the Altman collections. The gold cope button of Clement VII, set with precious stones, including the second largest diamond in the world; the medals representing 'Hercules and the Nemean Lion,' Atlas Sup porting the Sphere' in chased gold, and medals of Clement VII and Francis I are among the remnants of his exquisite workmanship.
His fame rests largely on his autobiography, a brilliant work, teeming with his loves and hates and the kaleidoscopic adventures of his restless career. Cellini is chiefly interesting
not only as an artist, but also as a mirror of his times. He reflects an Italy, brilliant, super stitious, cruel and sensual. His contemporaries accepted his arrogance, his disregard of the value of human life, his selfishness and vindic tiveness as the rightful attributes of a great man. Law was a matter then for private justi fication. Religion belonged to the ascetic, or was appealed to when human agency failed. In his works, so flawless in technique and so devoid of spiritual and moral inspiration, one sees Rome's worship of mere physical perfect tion, her love of luxury and her loss of soul. The autobiography, written in his old age, gives intimate and vivid touches of the political his tory of the time and the personalities who throng its pages.
In addition he wrote a treatise on the art of the goldsmith and on sculpture (1568), of which a modern edition was published by Milanesi (Florence 1857). His works were published at Florence in 1843. See CELLINI'S AUTOBIOGRAPH Y.
Bibliography.— The best Italian edition of his 'Autobiography' is by Bacci (Florence 1900); English translation by Symonds (Lon don 1896); by Cust (2 vols., 1910). Goethe rendered a very admirable translation into German. The classic monograph is by Plon (Paris 1882-84); others are by Focillon, in 'Les grandes artistes'; Serpino (Florence 1904); Torelli (1903); De Bouchard (Paris 1903) ; Gailly de Taurines (1908); Heiss (Paris 1887) ; Friedlander (Berlin 1880-82). Consult also Symonds, 'The Renaissance in Italy' (Vol. III, 1885) ; Leader Scott, Renaissance and Modern) (1886).