DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32874#0352
294 LIFE OF BENVENUTO CELLINI [BK. 11
made a request to me that I would give him some work;
and I was glad to do so, and set him to cleaning the
figure of UfMVsw, which had already been cast. This
youth after 15 days told me that he had spoken with
his master—that is to say, Bandinello—and that he was
to tell me from him, that, if I wanted to make a figure in
marble, he was sending to offer to present me a fine
piece of marble. I immediately said to him: " Tell him
that I accept it; and may it be bad marble for him, for
he goes about irritating me, and does not remember
the great danger that he escaped from me upon the
Piazza di San Domenico. But tell him that I want it
anyhow. I never speak about him, but that beast is
always causing me annoyance: and I believe that it may
be through his sending you that you have come to work
with me, merely to spy upon my affairs. Oh! Go and
tell him that I will have the marble in spite of himU
and return yourself with it."
As it had been many days since I had permitted myself
to revisit the Palace, I went one morning when that
fancy took me, and the Duke had almost finished
dinner, and from what I heard His Excellency had that
* On June 23rd 1546, CELLINI wrote a letter to Bandinelli to
ask for this piece of marble TASSI, 9%. rz'A, Vol. Ill, p. 314) in
which we read: " From a polite person I have heard that you are
saying that if Benvenuto wants to make a marble statue, I offer to
present him with the marble, and I was very pleased that such a
remark was repeated to me. I, as civilly as possible, beseech you
not to be lacking to yourself; and to give me so much marble that I
can at least make a figure as large as life; for by it I hope to show
how far a good disciple can surpass so able a master. For I have cer-
tainly had no other master in Sculpture than yourself, etc." This
is of course sarcastic.
made a request to me that I would give him some work;
and I was glad to do so, and set him to cleaning the
figure of UfMVsw, which had already been cast. This
youth after 15 days told me that he had spoken with
his master—that is to say, Bandinello—and that he was
to tell me from him, that, if I wanted to make a figure in
marble, he was sending to offer to present me a fine
piece of marble. I immediately said to him: " Tell him
that I accept it; and may it be bad marble for him, for
he goes about irritating me, and does not remember
the great danger that he escaped from me upon the
Piazza di San Domenico. But tell him that I want it
anyhow. I never speak about him, but that beast is
always causing me annoyance: and I believe that it may
be through his sending you that you have come to work
with me, merely to spy upon my affairs. Oh! Go and
tell him that I will have the marble in spite of himU
and return yourself with it."
As it had been many days since I had permitted myself
to revisit the Palace, I went one morning when that
fancy took me, and the Duke had almost finished
dinner, and from what I heard His Excellency had that
* On June 23rd 1546, CELLINI wrote a letter to Bandinelli to
ask for this piece of marble TASSI, 9%. rz'A, Vol. Ill, p. 314) in
which we read: " From a polite person I have heard that you are
saying that if Benvenuto wants to make a marble statue, I offer to
present him with the marble, and I was very pleased that such a
remark was repeated to me. I, as civilly as possible, beseech you
not to be lacking to yourself; and to give me so much marble that I
can at least make a figure as large as life; for by it I hope to show
how far a good disciple can surpass so able a master. For I have cer-
tainly had no other master in Sculpture than yourself, etc." This
is of course sarcastic.