Veneziano Cellini (November 3, 1500 – February 13, 1571) was an Italian-born goldsmith and sculptor who came to work for Francis I of France (1494-1547), through the mediation of his patron, Ippolito d'Este, Cardinal of Ferrara, Italy. Cardinal Ippolito was a scion of the Italian Este family, which in the 15th century was one of the most important patrons of the arts in Italy. It seems that Cellini had insisted while still in Italy that the terms of his employment be discussed before his arrival in France, and when the cardinal conveyed to him the king's offer of a salary of 300 scudi per year, he refused. "You wrote to me that it was 300 scudi, I would not set foot even for twice that amount." Cellini finally got what he wanted, and among the works he executed for the king FranceThere is the famous salt cellar, which is currently in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
In Veneto, Cellini arrives in France
Let us go back to the beginning of Cellini's stay in France. The heartbroken Cellini decided to help the court, scattered his money, clothes and possessions and fled the king's court. Cellini rode on the road to the forest in the hope of reaching another place. He remembered the oath he had sworn in Castel Sant'Angelo to create a Christ in the form of the vision he had seen, and decided to make a pilgrimage to the "Holy See". He had barely ridden two miles when the king's messengers caught up with him, threatening him with imprisonment, and asked him to return; when he returned, Cardinal Hippolyte informed him of the king's decision to employ him at the same salary as he had been employed Leonardo da Vinci – with a salary of seven hundred scudi and additional payment for the work he would produce. In addition, he was promised 500 scudi for travel expenses. The next day, Cellini was officially introduced to the king, who ordered him to make models for 12 silver statues, six of gods and six of goddesses, which were to stand as candelabras (lamps) around his table. The statues were to be made in Paris.
On their return to Paris, Cellini began work at the house of Hippolyte d'Este, and when the king returned he showed him four wax models of Jupiter, Juno, Apollo and Vulcan, each about 40 cm high. The king approved a complete casting, and Cellini introduced his assistants, both of whom received salaries of one hundred scudi. The models could have been made at the house of Hippolyte d'Este, but the making of the silver statues and any further orders from the king required more favorable workshop conditions, and these were promised to Cellini, clearly at his suggestion, at the château known as Petit Nesle, in Paris on the left bank of the Seine. Work on three of the figures, Jupiter, Vulcan and Mars, began in 1541 with full-size models in terracotta.
On a collision course with the royal concubine
The commission for the silver figures occupied Cellini during the five years he was in France, and when he left in 1545 only one of them, Jupiter, was completed. Cellini outlined to the king the way he thought the task would be carried out. This involved preparing a full-size clay model, from which three gesso casts of different parts would be made. This would then be cast in bronze. Cellini also suggested an alternative technique for rapid execution, but as mentioned, speed was a relative concept, and it was not until January 1545 that Jupiter was completed and presented to the king. In practice, the work was difficult and the technique more empirical than Cellini had suggested, as we know from Cellini's Life. It is known that Madame d'Etemps, who was the patron of Francesco Primaticcio, ridiculed the long time and considerable amount of money it had cost to make the statue. She also said that the role of the cloak in the statue was to cover up mistakes in the making. To this Cellini replied that he did not cover up mistakes in his work, but if she did not want a robe, he would remove it. So Cellini removed the robe and presented the statue with the exposed genitals, and asked, “Do you find everything as it should be?” The king burst out laughing, and Cellini added to her, “I owe an account of my work only to the king.” After a discussion between Cellini and Madame d’Etampe, the king put an end to the argument.
It is clear from this account that Madame d'Etemps was as much hostile to Cellini as is described in the Life. Her power was great and very great, she had a considerable share in the fall of Montmorency in the spring of 1541, and her crypto-Lutheran ideas influenced French policy in more important areas than the arts. She was described by the imperial ambassador to the French court as "the real president of the king in the most intimate and private council." Cellini seems to have had no understanding of the nature of her authority.
At the Renaissance court of Francis I (1–1515), the royal concubine was accepted as part of the political furniture, with her own status and place within the court hierarchy. Francis I's long-time concubine, Anne de Pisselieu, became Duchess d'Étampes in 1547, severed all ties with the reign of Eleanor of Austria, and served as governess to the royal children as well as a liaison to the ministers. Towards the end of Francis' reign, she became embroiled in a rivalry with the concubine of Francis's son and heir, the future King Henry I (1–1533) – so that upon Francis's death in 1547, the cry went out, "The king is dead! Long live the new concubine!" This new concubine, and then Diane de Poitiers (Diane of Poitiers)
Cellini, Jupiter
To the statue that Cellini made, a gilded bronze base decorated with reliefs of “The Abduction of Ganymede” and “Lida and the Swan” was added. Cellini cast a similar base for the statue of Juno, for which a full-size model was probably made, although there is no evidence of this. This is quite certain, since Jupiter and Juno were designed as a pair. Cellini used to work in a workshop in the fortress known as the Petit Nesle, in Paris on the left bank of the Seine. There, the King and his retinue visited him with Madame d'Etemps, Cardinal Lorraine, the King and Queen of Navarre, and the Dauphin and Dauphines. The King made casting proposals to Cellini, and at dinner the next day he approached Cellini in the presence of Hippolyto d'Este and expressed his admiration for the urn and base he had made, and said that he wanted a vase of the same quality. He wanted Cellini to do it as quickly as possible. Cellini replied: “His Majesty will see a drawing sooner than he asks, for since I have made this base I thought he would accompany the salt-cellar, and I have already designed one, and if His Majesty wishes I will show it to him.” Cellini crossed the Seine and returned to the king with the model he had made in Rome. Hippolyto d’Este warned the king that the making of the salt-cellar involved great complexity and might not be finished, but the king did not heed this, and when the meal was over he took Cellini aside and asked him how much gold he needed. One hundred scudi, Cellini replied and the money was given to him. In the context of “Life”, work on the salt-cellar began the following day. Cellini describes his workshop as a crowded place, and the documents confirm that in addition to the assistants he brought with him from Italy, Ascanio de’ Mari and Paolo Romano, there were also assistants of German origin. There is no record of the presence of experienced French goldsmiths in Cellini’s studio. During these years Cellini's fame grew, and in July 1542 he received the honor accorded to Rousseau, becoming a French citizen. This appointment brought with it legal benefits, but the basis, as the first sentence dictates, was that Cellini would reside for the rest of his life in France and remain a servant of the king. When Cellini finally left France, in 1545, he was released from this agreement.
The saltcellar was completed in 1543, and when its ivory base and gilded enamel were complete it was presented in Paris to the king, who exclaimed in astonishment and gazed at it for a long time. The king ordered Cellini to return it to his studio with instructions for its dispatch, and the artist himself was to use it first with “parecchi mia cari amici” on a table in his workshop. The saltcellar remained the property of the French crown for some time and appears in the French Royal Inventory of 1560 at Fontebello. Two years later, during a financial crisis, it was taken to the Bastille with other valuable goldsmiths to be melted down, but was “saved” thanks to the intervention of the Sieur de Nonnort. In 1570 it was offered by Charles IX to Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, and was therefore preserved in Schloss Ambres, where it was identified in the 1788 inventory as the work described in Cellini's "Life". It was exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, as one of the most valuable and important surviving metal works by Cellini.
The upper surface of the salt shaker is divided between earth and ocean: earth is represented by a female figure and next to her is a temple of Ionia with a place to store pepper, and ocean is represented by Neptune, the god of the sea, sitting inside a shell to which four seahorses are tied. Neptune holds his pitchfork in his right hand and his other hand is extended forward. The ship surrounded by sea monsters serves as a container for salt. The description of the heavenly spirits that appear on the salt shaker comes from the first book of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Cellini used gold to make the salt shaker, and different types of enamel: blue enamel, white enamel, and red enamel, which he considered “the most beautiful enamel of all.”
We know from Cellini's "Life" that while in Rome, still active only as a goldsmith, he took a girl into his service who served as a model, and in the salt shaker male and female models were undoubtedly used. Without them, the delicate treatment and transitions in the figures of Earth or the precise and wonderful execution of the torso of Ocean would not have been possible. The stolen salt shaker was located on January 21, 2006, by the Austrian police. The thief took them to a hiding place where it was hidden. The salt shaker was not damaged.
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