DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32873#0246
162 LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI [BK. i
desired that I should represent upon this medallion
c^<?73 2 72^* /Lw'y So I set to work to
make it, and whilst I was working at it Michelagniolo
Buonaaroti often came to see it: and since I laboured
hard at it the attitude of the figure and the fierceness of
the animal differed greatly from the work of all those
who had up to that time executed such work. Moreover
from the fact that this species of work was totally un-
known to that divine Michelagniolo, he praised this work
of mine so much that he aroused in me so great a desire
to excel as was of inestimable value (to me). But since I
had nothing else to do but to set precious stones, al-
though this employment brought me in the largest
earnings that I could make, I was not satisfied; be-
cause I wanted to execute works of greater merit than
mere stone-setting. At this juncture there chanced (to
appear) a certain Federigo Ginori, a youth of very high
spirit. This youth had lived at Naples for many years,
and since he was very handsome in figure and appear-
ance, he had fallen in love in Naples with a princess. So,
wishing to have a medallion made upon which was an
AV<%y wzY.% ^ %z'y y/^/G^y, he desired of
the great Michelagniolo, that he would make him a slight
sketch for it. At which he replied to the said Federigo:
" Go and look for a certain young goldsmith who bears
lion for Girolamo Marretti about a year after the siege of Rome,
and he reports in full Michelangelo's words of encomium: " If the
work had been upon a large scale, either in marble or bronze, exe-
cuted after that fine design, it would astonish the world; for in this
size it appears to me to be of such beauty, that I do not think that
any of the goldsmiths of antiquity ever did anything so good."
^ Where CELLINI has by mistake written = "the World/
he means the
desired that I should represent upon this medallion
c^<?73 2 72^* /Lw'y So I set to work to
make it, and whilst I was working at it Michelagniolo
Buonaaroti often came to see it: and since I laboured
hard at it the attitude of the figure and the fierceness of
the animal differed greatly from the work of all those
who had up to that time executed such work. Moreover
from the fact that this species of work was totally un-
known to that divine Michelagniolo, he praised this work
of mine so much that he aroused in me so great a desire
to excel as was of inestimable value (to me). But since I
had nothing else to do but to set precious stones, al-
though this employment brought me in the largest
earnings that I could make, I was not satisfied; be-
cause I wanted to execute works of greater merit than
mere stone-setting. At this juncture there chanced (to
appear) a certain Federigo Ginori, a youth of very high
spirit. This youth had lived at Naples for many years,
and since he was very handsome in figure and appear-
ance, he had fallen in love in Naples with a princess. So,
wishing to have a medallion made upon which was an
AV<%y wzY.% ^ %z'y y/^/G^y, he desired of
the great Michelagniolo, that he would make him a slight
sketch for it. At which he replied to the said Federigo:
" Go and look for a certain young goldsmith who bears
lion for Girolamo Marretti about a year after the siege of Rome,
and he reports in full Michelangelo's words of encomium: " If the
work had been upon a large scale, either in marble or bronze, exe-
cuted after that fine design, it would astonish the world; for in this
size it appears to me to be of such beauty, that I do not think that
any of the goldsmiths of antiquity ever did anything so good."
^ Where CELLINI has by mistake written = "the World/
he means the