At the age of fourteen, he was invited to work in the studio of Miguel Ángel Brandini, father of the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli; the following year he moved to a goldsmith’s workshop. only sixteen years old, but was forced to leave Florence after being involved in a fight with his brother Cecchino.
After having studied in Bologna and Pisa, having as a teacher – among others – the goldsmith Ulivieri Della Chiostra, Benvenuto Cellini He was the protagonist of another fight, which forced him to seek refuge in Siena and Rome: there, even when he was less than twenty years old, he began to work in the workshop of Giovanni de Georgis. Later – in 1524 – he opened his own shop, through which he came into contact with different artists and goldsmiths, manufacturing various works. In 1527 he took part, during the sack of Rome, in the defense of Pope Clement VII and of Sant’Angelo Castle, participating in the assassination – with a musket shot – of the commander Carlos III de Borbón.
Subsequently, he moved to Mantua, where he participated in the realization of works for the members of the Gonzaga family. In 1529 he was called to Rome by Pope Clement VII, who appointed him the official printer of the papal currency.
Removed from the role of papal printer since 1533, Benvenuto Cellini he also retired from his post as the pope’s escort soldier, probably because of the gossip put into circulation by Pompey de Capitaneis, another goldsmith in Rome. Cellini he killed Pompeo, fearful that he might attack him after the death of Clement VII; Either way, he was acquitted by the new Pope, Paul III.
He had to render accounts, however, with the son of the Pope, Pier Luigi Farnese, but came to the point of fearing for his safety, he then fled to Florence, where he worked at the court of Alexander de Medici. Meanwhile he made the “Clement VII Medal“, 4 cm in diameter in gilded silver, and sculpted the”Testone (currency) by Alexander of Medici. “
Back in Rome, he had to flee again in 1537: he managed to take refuge in Padua, working for a short time in the service of Cardinal Pietro Bembo, before reaching the court of Francis I in France, where he made some bronze medals dedicated to the King; There, however, he remained inactive for much of the time, and not getting any kind of order, he decided to return to Rome. There, however, he was accused of having carried out looting and some robberies, and was imprisoned in the Castel Sant’Angelo. He was in prison for a long time because of disagreements with the Pope, he managed to flee to France, back to the court of Francis: it is on this occasion that he created one of his most famous works of goldsmithing, the salt shaker that represents the sea and the earth, in ebony, gold and enamel.
In 1545 he made the “greyhound“in bronze and start preparations for it”Bust of Cosimo I de Medici“in bronze. In 1549, he began sculpting the”Bust of Cosimo I“in marble, while a few years later the”Perseus who kills medusa“of bronze that at the moment is conserved in the Loggia dei Lanzi, in Florence.
Of these years are also “Ganymede“,”Apollo and Jacinto” Y “Daffodil“, all of marble, in addition to the”Bust of Bindo Altoviti“in bronze. In 1550 he made the”Flask “(damascene iron of gold and silver) and began the work of the”Secret Treasure Chest Key“, in carved iron, chiselled and drilled from a single block.
During this time, he was denounced by a model, for which he also faced a trial in which he was accused of sodomy; in 1557 he was sentenced to four years in prison, which were later changed to four years under house arrest. In this period, he sculpted, among other things, the “Crucifix“currently on display at the Escorial in Madrid.
At the same time he completed two other literary works: “Treaty of the ‘Orefebreria” and a “Treaty of sculpture“.