. Among other marks of royal favor he was
presented with a castle, Le Petit Nesle. His efforts to gain
possession of this grant are among the amusing episodes of his
narrative.

He had as usual numerous quarrels, and falling into disfavor with
Madame d'Estampes, the King's favorite, he suddenly left Paris and
returned alone to Florence. The remainder of his life he passed mainly
in the service of Duke Cosimo de' Medici. The chapters of his
narrative dealing with this portion give a most vivid picture of
artist life at an Italian court in the sixteenth century. To this
third and last period belongs the work on which his fame as sculptor
rests, the bronze Perseus holding the head of Medusa, completed in
1554 and still standing in the Loggia de' Lanzi in Florence. It is a
typical monument of the Renaissance, and was received with universal
applause by all Italy. Odes and sonnets in Italian, Greek, and Latin
were written in its praise. His minute description of its casting, and
of his many trials during that process, are among the most interesting
passages of the narrative.

In 1558 he began to write his memoirs, dictating them for the greater
part to an amanuensis; and he carried them down to the year 1562. The
events of the remaining nine years of his life are to be gathered from
contemporary documents. In 1558 he received the tonsure and first
ecclesiastical orders, but married two years later, and died in 1571.
He was buried with great pomp in the Church of the Annunciata in
Florence.

Besides his 'Memoirs' he also wrote treatises on the goldsmith's art
and on sculpture, with especial reference to bronze-founding. They are
of great value as manuals of the craftsmanship of the Renaissance, and
excellent specimens of good Italian style as applied to technical
exposition. And like all cultivated artists of his time Cellini also
tried his hand at poetry; but his lack of technical training as a
writer comes out even more in his verse than in his prose. The life of
Benvenuto was one of incessant activity, laying hold of the whole
domain of the plastic arts: of restless wanderings from place to
place; and of rash deeds of violence. He lived to the full the life of
his age, in all its glory and all its recklessness. As the most famous
goldsmith of his time, he worked for all the great personages of the
day, and put himself on a footing of familiar acquaintance with popes
and princes. As an artist he came into contact with a