Due trattati: uno intorno alle otto principali arti dell' oreficeria : l'altro in materia dell'arte della scultura : dove si veggono infiniti segreti nel lavorar le figure di marmo, e nel gettarle in bronzo

Uittreksel

First edition of Cellini’s two treatises, concerning the techniques of goldsmithing and sculpture in marble and bronze, with remarks on architecture and design. These are a highly important source for the study of Florentine sculpture, with notably interesting comments on other artists’ techniques, Michelangelo’s in particular. Cellini discusses at length his difficulties in creating the bronze Perseus and Medusa, commissioned for the Loggia dei Lanzi by Cosimo de’ Medici, father of the book’s dedicatee, Cardinal Fernando de’ Medici. This first edition is the only one to contain the sonnets by Angelo Bronzino, Benedetto Varchi and others at the end, celebrating Cellini’s monumental sculpture and other works. It is also the only work by Cellini published during his lifetime--or for that matter up to the eighteenth century, the “Vita” not having been issued until 1728. A second edition of the treatises appeared in Florence in 1731, revised and rewritten in the authorized Italian of the Accademia Crusca.