Why is Bronze Perseus figure statue Better?

16th-century sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini

Perseus with the Head of Medusa is a bronze sculpture made by Benvenuto Cellini in the period –. The sculpture stands on a square base which has bronze relief panels depicting the story of Perseus and Andromeda, similar to a predella on an altarpiece.[1] It is located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. The second Florentine duke, Cosimo I de' Medici, commissioned the work with specific political connections to the other sculptural works in the piazza. When the piece was revealed to the public on 27 April , Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes were already installed in the piazza.[2]

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The subject matter of the work is the mythological story of Perseus beheading Medusa, a hideous woman-faced Gorgon whose hair had been turned to snakes; anyone who looked at her was turned to stone. Perseus stands naked except for a sash and winged sandals, triumphant on top of the body of Medusa with her head, crowned with writhing snakes, in his raised hand. Blood spews from Medusa's severed neck. The bronze sculpture, in which Medusa's head turns men to stone, is appropriately surrounded by three huge marble statues of men: Hercules, David, and later Neptune.[2] Cellini's use of bronze in Perseus and the head of Medusa, and the motifs he used to respond to the previous sculpture in the piazza, were highly innovative. Examining the sculpture from the back, one can see a self-portrait of the sculptor Cellini on the back of Perseus's helmet.

Background

[edit] External videos Smarthistory – Cellini's Perseus[3]

Cellini was the first to integrate narrative relief into the sculpture of the piazza.[4] As the Perseus was installed in the Loggia, it dominated the dimensions of later pedestals of other sculptural works within the Loggia, like Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women.[5] Perseus added to the cast of Olympian gods protecting the Medici.[6] Weil-Garris also focuses on the pedestal beneath the sculpture in the round. However, the present pedestal may not have been Cellini's original intent, as the relief was still being worked on and installed when the bronze sculpture above had already been revealed.[7] The Medici still dominated the theme of the pedestal as Perseus in the pedestal is an allegory for Duke Francesco Medici.[8]

The politics of the Medici and Florence dominate the Piazza della Signoria, specifically making reference to the first three Florentine dukes. Duke Alessandro I was the first Florentine duke, and Hercules and Cacus was revealed during his time, meeting with a terrible reception by the public in .[9] The next sculpture to be revealed was Cellini's Perseus and Cosimo I was very cautious about the public's reaction to the piece.[9] Fortunately, the public received the sculpture well, as Cosimo watched the reception from a window in the Palazzo Vecchio.[4] The third duke is directly related to the sculpture's relief panel on the base as the Perseus can be seen as a symbol for Duke Francesco and Andromeda as his Habsburg bride, Giovanna.[10] Similarly, Andromeda acts as an allegory for Florence, while Perseus is the collective Medici swooping down to save the city.[11] Cellini chose to represent the sad side of the story of Andromeda; however, he created a focus on the Medici, like Perseus, saving the unsmiling Andromeda.[12] Every sculpture in the piazza can be seen as politically or artistically related to one another and to the Medici.

The work

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At the time the sculpture was created, bronze had not been used in almost half a century for a monumental work of art. Cellini made the conscious decision to work in this medium because by pouring molten metal into his cast, he was vivifying the sculpture with life-giving blood.[13] The most difficult part would be completing the entire cast all at once. Donatello's Judith and Holofernes was already placed in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the westernmost arch.[14] Judith had been cast in bronze, but in several sections joined together.[15] Cellini was competing against monumental works of marble sculpture like Michelangelo's David and wanted to make a statement for himself and his patron, Cosimo I.

Michael Cole specifically draws attention to the process of casting the Perseus. Citing Cellini's Vita, Cole notes how Cellini's assistants let the metal clot, and had Cellini not been present the work would have been destroyed.[16] Cole then asserts that Cellini goes beyond reviving the work but raised the dead, in which he means that Cellini's salvation was remelting the bronze.[17] Cellini also invokes Christ and by doing so he breathes life into the sculpture.[18] Casting the Perseus was more than meeting the demand of Cosimo I; Cellini was proving himself to Florence in a newly refurbished medium.

Perseus was one of Cellini's crowning works, completed with two different ideas in mind. He wanted to respond to the sculpture already placed within the piazza, which he did with the subject matter of Medusa reducing men to stone. Secondly, the Medici were represented by Perseus, both in the round sculpture and the relief below. Moreover, in that respect, Cellini also made a statement for himself in the actual casting of Perseus. Cellini breathed life into his new sculpture through his use of bronze and he asserted Medici control over the Florentine people through the Perseus motif.

A bronze cast of the sculpture was made in the early 19th Century and installed at Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire, England around , where it is now a Grade II* listed structure.[19][20]

Depictions by other artists

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• The marble sculpture by Antonio Canova (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), c. –
• Sculpture by Salvador Dalí
• Produced by order of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland in . Erected in Trentham Estate.
• Roman Fresco of Villa San Marco in Stabiae
• Perseus with Medusa's head, as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.

See also

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• Medusa with the Head of Perseus, sculpture
• Sculpture in the Renaissance Period

Notes

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References

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• Burne-Jones, Edward. “ ‘Andromeda’: Transformation of Historical and Mythological Sources.” Artibus et Historiae 25, no. 49 (): 197–227.
• Cole, Michael. "Cellini's Blood." The Art Bulletin 81, no. 2 (): 215–235.
• Mandel, Corinne. "Perseus and the Medici." Storia Dell'Arte no. 87 (): 168–187.
• Shearman, John. Art Or Politics in the Piazza? Benvenuto Cellini. Kunst und Kunsttheorie im 16. Jahrhundert (): 19–36.
• Weil-Garris, Kathleen. On Pedestals: Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus and the Sculpture of the Piazza Della Signoria. Römisches Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte 20, (): 377–415.

COVER PHOTO: Bronze bust of Benvenuto Cellini.

… but how does Cellini (pronounced: Chell- eenee) take pride of place in the middle of what is one the world’s most prestigious bridges?

… the Ponte Vecchio across the Arno River in Florence …

Born in Florence in the son of a musical instrument maker and musician, by the age of 15 the young Benvenuto had begun training as a goldsmith – but, like his father, he also trained as a musician, in particular with the cornett and the flute.

However, by the age of 16, he had already become involved in various brawls and was exiled with his brother from Florence to Siena. From there he moved to Bologna and Pisa continuing his goldsmith’s work and improving his musical talent.

By the age of 19 he was a practising goldsmith in Rome, where his most notable piece of work, intended to be worn as a hat brooch, was a gold medallion of Leda and the Swan for the Florentine Gonfalonier of Justice (Municipal Magistrate and custodian of the flag of the city), Gabbriello Cesarino …

Working in Rome until , his musical talent had become such that he was able to combine his goldsmith’s work with playing music professionally and during this time, he became sufficiently accomplished musically to be appointed one of the papal court musicians.

However, he continued to live a lifestyle filled with drama, being accused at various times of sodomy, murder, theft, slander, necromancy and counterfeiting. During -23, at his father’s behest he returned to Florence (as a goldsmith) but soon fell out with a family of rival goldsmiths, the Guascontis, resulting in a knife brawl earning Cellini a death sentence after which he fled, returning to Rome. The s were punctuated with three murders and a wounding, including avenging his brother’s death by killing his brother’s killer, killing a rival goldsmith and wounding a notary. Despite this, he was pardoned and even went on to find favour with Pope Paul III.

While the later Caravaggio (-) is typically identified as the ‘Bad Boy of Baroque’, Cellini was certainly the archetypal ‘Bad Boy of the Renaissance’. Despite this, he is certainly one of the finest Renaissance craftsman; even Michelangelo (–) considered him the finest goldsmith of which he was aware.

From to , under the patronage of King Francis I of France he produced his only extant work in gold, the most important piece of goldsmith’s craftwork that has survived from the Italian Renaissance, the gold, ebony, enamel and ivory Saliera, the Cellini Salt Cellar. The figures are Tellus Mater (Latin: Mother Earth), at the side of whom is a gold temple to contain the pepper, and Neptune, God of the Sea, beyond whom is an open boat to carry Neptune’s salt.

For more detail on Cellini’s Salt cellar see here.

Now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the salt cellar is currently insured for a sum measured in tens of millions of €uros.

Unfortunately, there are so few of Cellini’s gold pieces remaining since, after his death, much of his work was melted down for its gold content!

By Cellini returned from France to Florence, now a sculptor celebrated for his classical works, to work for the second Florentine duke, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (from to ) who, despite all of Cellini’s accumulated misdeeds, elevated him to court sculptor. One important commission was a stunning bronze bust of Cosimo dressed in armour as a Roman Emperor, now housed in the Michelangelo Room in the Bargello Museum in Florence …

But it was one sculpture that was to become Cellini’s signature work, his most celebrated, but violent, masterpiece; the Mannerist bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of the Gorgon, Medusa, who could turn to stone any who gazed upon her …

Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa is renowned for its dynamic composition, intricate details, and the masterful portrayal of emotions. The sculpture was created between and taking Cellini nine years, an extended timeline due to the intricacy of the sculpture, the technical challenges in bronze casting, interruptions due to war and an accusation of sodomy from one of his studio assistants forcing him to flee to Venice for a while. Additionally, artistic perfection demanded by Cellini of himself required time and meticulous attention to detail. To technically achieve the overall composition, the bronze statue had to be cast in four parts: Perseus’ body, Medusa’s body, the sword and Medusa’s head.

This dynamic composition was commissioned by Cosimo I de’Medici to stand in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria amongst Michelangelo’s marble statue of David and Donatello’s bronze of Judith slaying Holofernes (now each replaced by a copy) in the heart of Florence …

Dominating the Piazza della Signoria is the Palazzo Vecchio with its tall campanile. Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the more ostentatiously placed Palazzo Vecchio (at the time named Palazzo della Signoria) in May , signalling the dominance of Medici power in Florence.

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To the right of the palazzo in the above photograph is the Loggia dei Lanzi, originally an open building that housed the focal point of public meetings and ceremonies in the piazza, now essentially an open-air sculpture gallery whose exhibits include statues along the back wall dating back to Roman times …

Cosimo required from Cellini a statue in allegorical form that would display to the people of Florence the power, wealth and might of the Medici – particularly as a powerful, political piece of Medici propaganda. Cellini’s statue was intended to act as a warning to the populace about the perils of dissent. Superficially, Florentines would see the statue as a hero vanquishing a formidable enemy but the underlying intent was to graphically reinforce how the Medici overcame their rivals, including the states in and around Tuscany.

Cellini was directed to place the statue in the Loggia dei Lanzi on a high plinth to look down menacingly on the passing populace. It was placed so that it could be seen from the entrance of Cosimo’s Palazzo Vecchio.

Where it was originally placed in the 16th-century, is exactly the place it stands now! That’s the original Cellini statue to be seen in the Loggia that he unveiled to great acclaim on the 27th April …

As part of the overall sculpture, Cellini carved the rectangular marble base on which it stands (with the assistance of other sculptors, in particular Francesco del Tadda). The base contains four niches, one on each side, containing Cellini’s smaller cast bronzes of characters important in Perseus’ story (more of which later), making it the first statue since Roman times where the base formed an integral part of the work.

Perseus stands on the decapitated body of the vanquished Gorgon, grasping his sword in his right hand and raising aloft the severed head of Medusa in his left.

In Greek mythology, Perseus ranked as one of the great heroes in slaying the Gorgon, Medusa. Perseus was born a demi-god, son of the god, Zeus, and a mortal woman, Danae. Medusa was born a beautiful woman with long flowing hair who incurred the wrath of the goddess Athena. Athena cursed her with a hideous face and a writhing tangle of serpents instead of her beautiful hair – as portrayed on the shield painted by Caravaggio around …

Perseus set out to slay the Gorgon armed with gifts from the gods, including a pair of winged sandals from the messenger of the gods, Hermes; a sword from the god of fire and the forge, Hephaestus; a mirrored bronze shield from Athena to reflect, and so avoid, Medusa’s petrifying gaze; a helmet of invisibility from Hades, god of the underworld; and a pouch that was to carry the decapitated head of Medusa.

(A more comprehensive version of the story of Perseus and Medusa can be found here).

Bearing in mind the power of Medusa’s head, even in death, of turning to stone anyone who gazed upon her, it seems no surprise that, bar a couple of bronze statues in the piazza, all sculptures are stone (mainly marble) …

In fact, the position of Michelangelo’s David and Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus , either side of the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio and both looking directly at Medusa’s head, give the impression that they have succumbed to Medusa’s evil power. Perhaps Cellini placed his Perseus with Medusa’s head looking directly at Michelangelo’s David, turning David to stone, as if in a triumphant, “The master is dead, long live the master”? …

Now while the statue itself is Cellini’s original bronze casting, his plinth beneath has been replaced by a copy …

… the original now being housed in the Michelangelo Room in the Bargello Museum …

The statuettes depict characters appearing directly in Perseus’ mythological story: his father Zeus, his mother Danae with the young Perseus and his siblings Hermes and Athena …

Watch out for the following if you are lucky enough to be standing in the Loggia next to Perseus …

Not wishing to miss a trick, Cellini made sure that his image would live on beyond his mortal years. If one examines the back of Perseus’ helmet, one sees that Cellini has woven into the fabric of the statue his own self-image!

In a further attempt at self-promotion, there is a sash across the chest of Perseus along which Cellini has inscribed the sculptor’s (i.e. his) name, BENVENUTUS CELLINUS ...

… looking extremely similar to the sash across the Pietà (c. ) on which Michelangelo (for whom Cellini had the greatest awe and respect) had inscribed that he was the sculptor responsible …

By , having been committed to prison for sodomy, later commuted to four-years’ house arrest, Cellini set about writing his vivid and dramatic autobiography, entitled Vita (Life) – still in print (eg Amazon UK). In his book, Cellini offers fascinating insights giving a quite remarkably descriptive account and first-hand perspective of daily life in Renaissance Florence and Rome. Amongst its pages he describes in detail the nine-years-in-the-making of the statue of Perseus holding the Head of Medusa.

It is the only autobiography written on the life and times of a high-Renaissance craftsman, a craftsman whose timeline overlapped those of Leonardo da Vinci (-) and Michelangelo Buonarotti (-), neither of whom wrote autobiographies.

Cellini’s was one of the first autobiographies written by any artist, while both Michelangelo’s and Leonardo’s stories were told second-hand by Giorgio Vasari in his work (and -66 second edition), Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects) in which Vasari portrayed his favourite artists with reverence. It was how he thought Vasari, not his biggest admirer, would portray him in his second edition that spurred on Cellini to write about his own life in his Vita.

But Cellini’s autobiography is much more than a self-penned ‘local-lad-made-good’.

To say that his autobiography was a tale of derring-do would be a great understatement. This is a compelling historical document written by a self-opinionated, arrogant, boastful, immoral, narcissistic braggard, a shameless murderer and sodomiser who was not averse to embroidering his work with self-aggrandisement and larger-than-life escapades – sometimes fact, sometimes fantasy, but many of which have to be taken with a heavy pinch of salt!

That he lived to the age of 71 is amazing, especially after a hedonistic lifestyle that included imprisonment in dank dungeons, illness, vengeful murders, clashes with his powerful patrons, attempts to poison him with ground diamonds …

… and yet, despite all, it is a tale, told in his staggeringly vainglorious style, of social mobility of a genius of the Renaissance who counted kings, dukes and popes amongst his close acquaintances.

Worth a read!

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