Word: cellini
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Unrecognized Treasure Sir: Reading your article about the discovery of a Cellini bust by the De Young Museum of San Francisco [TIME, Oct. 61, I felt worse than a bridegroom reading the account of his wedding. At least the bridegroom gets his name mentioned. You omitted the fact that the bust languished in my Mond'art Galler ies, a nameless orphan, until Museum Director Walter Heil came along, gave it a name and parentage: Cosimo de Medici by Benvenuto ellini...
...Benvenuto Cellini, Treatise on Sculpture
...Francisco's De Young Museum this week furnished dramatic new evidence that Italy's famed 16th century Sculptor Cellini, best known for his bronze statuary, including the great Perseus still in Florence, and gold art objects, also did "great works in marble." Unveiled with a flourish was a 30-in. marble bust of Cosimo de Medici, Duke of Florence (1519-74), a rediscovery by De Young's Director Walter Heil.*It appeared to be Cellini's long-lost bid for fame as what he himself claimed he was, "the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo...
Eighteen months ago a Manhattan art dealer showed Director Heil the marble bust, which Heil from his days as a fellow of the Institute of Art History in Florence readily identified as a smaller copy of Cellini's bronze bust of Cosimo in the National Museum. Back in San Francisco, Dr. Heil traced references to such a work in the Cellini literature, built up documentation that a marble Cosimo had indeed been carved by Cellini. A memorandum written by Cellini one year before his death in 1571 itemized his marble work, including the Apollo and Narcissus rediscovered in Florence...
...After Cellini's death the bust apparently lost its identity; since 1791 it has been owned by an English noble family that could not prove its authenticity when forced by circumstances to sell it to a U.S. collector. Heil's conclusion: "It is completely in the personal style of Cellini, and so unique in craftsmanship that nobody but Cellini could have done...