Benvenuto Cellini

T H E L I F E O F

BENVENUTO CELLINI

NEWLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

BY

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS

WITH ENGRAVED PORTRAIT AND EIGHT ETCHINGS

BY F. LGUILLERMIE

ALSO EIGHTEEN REPRODUCTIONS OF THE WORKS OF THE MASTER

IN TWO VOLUMES

LONDON

J O H N C. N I M M O

MDCCCLXXXVIII

DESCRIPTION

(ii) + lxxxviii + 321 + (ii)

(ii) + 455+ (ii)

Books measure 230mm x 170mm approximately.

Beautifully bound by Fazakerley of Liverpool in full medium blue calf. Spine with five gilt-ruled raised bands with elaborate gilt decoration to compartments, and title / volume in gilt. Triple gilt fillet borders to boards. Superb broad inner gilt dentelle work and borders to both boards. Rich silk end-papers and paste-downs. All page edges in gilt. Tissue-guarded portrait frontispiece to title page verso, and further illustrations throughout.

Limited edition print of 500 copies for England and 250 for America.

CONDITION

Good condition overall. Bindings are holding well, although becoming less firm as both front hinges are rubbed and partially cracked along length. Some wear and small losses of leather to spine head and foot. A few surface scratches and knocks and minor bumps to corners. Internally, the pages are clean and bright apart from the occasional spot and light foxing patch, more so to illustrations and end-papers. Gilt page edges in very bright rich condition. Small neat previous owner inscription to front end-paper of each volume.

Please refer to the photo images for a clear indication of both condition and content.

INTERESTING

Benvenuto Cellini (1500 to 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician, and artist who also wrote poetry and a famous autobiography. He was one of the most important artists of Mannerism, and is remembered for his skill, in such pieces as the Cellini Salt Cellar and Perseus with the Head of Medusa.

Among his art works, many of which have perished, were a colossal Mars for a fountain at Fontainebleau and the bronzes of the doorway, coins for the Papal and Florentine states, a life-sized silver Jupiter, and a bronze bust of Bindo Altoviti.

John Addington Symonds (1840 to 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists.

Symonds originally intended to study law, but his health was always frail, and this forced him to travel, spending much time in Switzerland and Italy.

His major study was Renaissance in Italy, which appeared in seven volumes at intervals between 1875 and 1886. Where Symonds wanted to further emphasise the reawakening of art and literature in Europe. His work was interrupted by serious illness. In 1877 his life was in danger. His recovery at Davos Platz led him to believe this was the only place where he was likely to enjoy life.

He made his home at Davos, and wrote about it in Our Life in the Swiss Highlands (1891). Symonds became a citizen of the town; he took part in its municipal business, made friends with the peasants, and shared their interests. There he wrote most of his books: biographies of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1878), Philip Sidney (1886), Ben Jonson (1886) and Michelangelo (1893), several volumes of poetry and essays, and a translation of the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (1887).

Although married with children, Symonds supported homosexuality, which he believed could include pederastic as well as egalitarian. He also wrote much poetry inspired by his same-sex affairs.

Edward Lear wrote "The Owl and the Pussycat" for Symonds' three-year-old daughter, Janet.

He died in Rome and was buried close to the grave of Percy Bysshe Shelley.