DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32873#0229
CH. vii] LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI 147
chamber with Cavaherino ^ and me alone. This Cavalier-
ino had formerly been stable-boy to Fillippo StrozziU
he was a Frenchman, a person of the humblest origin:
and since he was a valued servant, Pope Clemente had
made him very rich, and trusted him even as himself:
so that when the said Pope and Cavaliere and I were
shut up in the before-mentioned apartment, they set
before me the said tiaras with all that vast quantity of
jewels belonging to the Apostolic Treasury: and they
commissioned me that I should set them all free from
the gold in which they were set. And so I did. Then
I packed each of them in a little piece of paper and
we sewed them into certain garments upon the persons of
the Pope and the said Cavalierino. Then they gave me
all the gold, which amounted to about two hundred
pounds, and told me that I must melt it down with as
i VASARI (^V. MlLANESl, Vol. V, p. 530) in his Zz)^ c/*(?z'zz/zb 7?zz-
773<3%<7, alludes to this Cawzz/zkzVTZf %/A7r%^7W7*?z<?'a'<3 S'zz^z .SVzz/zZz:
and states that thatjartist introduced him, with many other person-
ages belonging to the Papal Court into his painting of 71%<? 7?<ay5-
Zkzzz ^7/ ZArz'j7 in the Vatican. CARPANI, TASSI, and BlANCHl would
wish to identify him with Niccolo Vespucci, Knight of Rhodes,
also introduced into this same painting; but VASARI carefully dis-
tinguishes these two personages, and GUASTi, in order to settle all
doubt upon this head, points out that CELLINI himself describes
Cavalierino as a "Frenchman" (yVzzzzA^).
^ A very wealthy Florentine merchant, who married Clarice,
daughter of Piero de' Medici, and was ambassador at the Courts
of France and Rome. During the tyrannical rule of Alessandro de'
Medici, he joined his exiled fellow-countrymen in the struggle to
restore to their native city its ancient liberties. But being taken
prisoner at Montemurlo he was thrown into the Forte di San
Giovanni (Z*<77"Z^F^ Zz Zzz^<?) where, after a year of imprisonment,
he died: some say by his own hand, whilst others affirm that he
was murdered by order of Duke Cosimo (1539).
chamber with Cavaherino ^ and me alone. This Cavalier-
ino had formerly been stable-boy to Fillippo StrozziU
he was a Frenchman, a person of the humblest origin:
and since he was a valued servant, Pope Clemente had
made him very rich, and trusted him even as himself:
so that when the said Pope and Cavaliere and I were
shut up in the before-mentioned apartment, they set
before me the said tiaras with all that vast quantity of
jewels belonging to the Apostolic Treasury: and they
commissioned me that I should set them all free from
the gold in which they were set. And so I did. Then
I packed each of them in a little piece of paper and
we sewed them into certain garments upon the persons of
the Pope and the said Cavalierino. Then they gave me
all the gold, which amounted to about two hundred
pounds, and told me that I must melt it down with as
i VASARI (^V. MlLANESl, Vol. V, p. 530) in his Zz)^ c/*(?z'zz/zb 7?zz-
773<3%<7, alludes to this Cawzz/zkzVTZf %/A7r%^7W7*?z<?'a'<3 S'zz^z .SVzz/zZz:
and states that thatjartist introduced him, with many other person-
ages belonging to the Papal Court into his painting of 71%<? 7?<ay5-
Zkzzz ^7/ ZArz'j7 in the Vatican. CARPANI, TASSI, and BlANCHl would
wish to identify him with Niccolo Vespucci, Knight of Rhodes,
also introduced into this same painting; but VASARI carefully dis-
tinguishes these two personages, and GUASTi, in order to settle all
doubt upon this head, points out that CELLINI himself describes
Cavalierino as a "Frenchman" (yVzzzzA^).
^ A very wealthy Florentine merchant, who married Clarice,
daughter of Piero de' Medici, and was ambassador at the Courts
of France and Rome. During the tyrannical rule of Alessandro de'
Medici, he joined his exiled fellow-countrymen in the struggle to
restore to their native city its ancient liberties. But being taken
prisoner at Montemurlo he was thrown into the Forte di San
Giovanni (Z*<77"Z^F^ Zz Zzz^<?) where, after a year of imprisonment,
he died: some say by his own hand, whilst others affirm that he
was murdered by order of Duke Cosimo (1539).