f a friend, and stole away to Rome.

In 1534 Cellini killed a fellow-goldsmith, called Pompeo; Paul III. was
now Pope; and as he needed the services of Benvenuto very much he
pardoned him. But the sculptor felt that he was in ill favor with all
about him, and went to France. In about a year he returned to find that
he had been accused of stealing some jewels which the pope had commanded
him to take out of their settings. Cellini was held a prisoner nearly
two years, but his guilt was never proved.

At the end of this time the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este obtained his
release in order that he might go to France to execute some work for
Francis I. Cellini remained in France five years, and received many
honors and gifts; but as Madame d'Etampes and other persons to whose
advice the king listened were enemies of Cellini, he never was treated
as his artistic qualities merited. Francis I. really admired Cellini,
and presented him with the Hotel de Petit Nesle, which was on the site
of the present Hotel de la Monnaie; he also made him a lord, and on one
occasion expressed his fear of losing him, when Madame d'Etampes
replied, "The surest way of keeping him would be to hang him on a
gibbet."

Of all the objects which Cellini made during his five years in France
but two remain. One is a splendid salt-cellar, and the other is a nymph
in bronze, which was made for the Palace of Fontainebleau, and is now in
the Renaissance Museum of the Louvre. This salt-cellar is now in the
Ambraser Gallery at Vienna. The frieze around the base has figures in
relief which represent the hours of the day and the winds. The upper
part is made like the surface of the sea, and from it rise figures of
Neptune and Cybele. The first is a symbol of the salt of the sea, and
the second of the spices which the earth gives. The god is placing his
arm on a small ship intended for the salt, and a vessel for pepper, in
the form of a triumphal arch, is near the goddess. All this is made of
fine embossed gold, and has some touches of enamel-work. It is one of
the finest pieces of the goldsmith's art which remains from the
sixteenth century.

In 1545 Cellini returned to Florence, and remained there, with short
absences, until his death. Duke Cosmo de' Medici became his patron, and
commissioned him to make a statue of Perseus for the Loggia de' Lanzi.
The ambition of the artist was much excited by the thought of having his
work placed by those of Donatello and Micha