The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics) by Benvenuto Cellini

Author:Benvenuto Cellini [Cellini, Benvenuto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2004-06-23T20:00:00+00:00

I went off to wait for this wonderful King, who had gone to take leave of Madame d’Étampes. She wanted to know where he was going, and she said that she would accompany him: when he told her, she said that she did not want to go with him after all, and she begged him not to go that day himself, for her sake. She had to make several attempts to dissuade the King from his purpose: however, he did not come to my house that day.

The following day, at the same hour, I went back to see him: and as soon as he set eyes on me he protested that he meant to come to my house at once. As usual he went to take his leave of Madame d’Étampes, and when she realized that, for all her influence, she had not been able to change his mind for him, she began using her sharp tongue to slander me as much as if I were a mortal enemy of the throne. In reply to this the good King said that his intention in going to visit me was solely to give me a terrifying dressing-down, and he gave her his word of honour that this was what he would do. Immediately, he came to the house, and I led him into some large rooms on the ground floor where I had assembled the great door in its entirety. When the King saw it he was so stupefied that he could not see his way to giving me the dressing-down he had said he would. All the same he did not want to miss the opportunity of abusing me as he had promised, and so he began saying:

‘There is one very important thing, Benvenuto, that you artists, talented as you are, must understand: you cannot display your talents without help; and your greatness only becomes perceptible because of the opportunities you receive from us. Now you should be a little more obedient and less arrogant and headstrong. I remember giving you express orders to make me twelve silver statues, and that was all I wanted. But you have set your mind on making me a salt-cellar, and vases, and busts, and doors, and so many other things that I’m completely dumbfounded when I consider how you’ve ignored my wishes and set out to satisfy yourself. If you think you can go on like this, I’ll show you the way I behave when I want things done my way. So I warn you, make sure you obey my orders: if you persist in your own ideas you’ll run your head against a wall.’

All the time he was talking, the noblemen with him remained very attentive, watching him as he shook his head, and frowned and gesticulated, now with one hand and now with the other. They were trembling with fear of what was going to happen to me, though for my part I was determined not to let myself panic in the slightest.

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