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Celebrated goldsmith and sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, Benvenuto
Cellini (1500-71) fits the conventional image of a Renaissance man: a skillful
virtuoso and courtier; an artist who worked in marble, bronze, and gold; a
writer and poet.
However, in his life and literary oeuvre, the notorious artist
aligned himself with the transgressive and oppositional voices of his day.
This
book, the first biographical study of Cellini available in English, uses the
methodologies of New Historicism, social history, and gender and sexuality
studies to situate the artist and his works in relation to a series of early
modern cultural discourses and practices, including sodomy, law, honour, magic,
and masculinity.
Gallucci taps a wide and varied body of contemporary and secondary sources
in an effort to avoid anachronism in repositioning the writer-artist in a
broader and more comprehensive context.
Gallucci's groundbreaking
discussions on the legal aspects of sodomy, a problem avoided by all but a few
Cellini scholars (Paolo Rossi, for example) are of particular interest to
scholars seeking to separate the historical man from his autobiographical
persona.
Gwendolyn Trottein, Canadian Art Review
This fascinating new look at Benvenuto Cellini offers a thoroughly
innovative approach to, and understanding of, the man Jacob Burckhardt called 'a
wholly recognizable prototype of modern man.'"-- Konrad Eisenbichler, CAA
Reviews
"A fascinating read…a brilliant rethinking of his autobiograph.
"A fascinating read…a brilliant rethinking of his autobiograph.
Gallucci’s cross-disciplinarity marks this book as the kind of
cutting-edge scholarship needed to revitalize traditional historical work."--
Juliana Schiesari, Annali d’Italianistica
"The most intriguing chapter of Gallucci’s study addresses the role of violence in Cellini’s self-representation."
"The most intriguing chapter of Gallucci’s study addresses the role of violence in Cellini’s self-representation."
Ian Frederick Moulton, Huntington Library
Quarterly
"Gallucci succeeds brilliantly at integrating a variety of approaches, placing the swashbuckling bisexual Cellini and his cultural production in the context of contemporary discourses about law, magic, virility, and honor."--James M. Saslow
"Evocative [and] astonishing.
"Gallucci succeeds brilliantly at integrating a variety of approaches, placing the swashbuckling bisexual Cellini and his cultural production in the context of contemporary discourses about law, magic, virility, and honor."--James M. Saslow
"Evocative [and] astonishing.
Within the
framework of New Historicism and sexual and gender studies, Gallucci puts forth
new scholarship in areas, such as Cellini’s literature and poetics."-- Cristina
Colasanto, US Italia
"Gallucci's groundbreaking discussions on the legal aspects of sodomy, a problem avoided by all but a few Cellini scholars (Paolo Rossi, for example) are of particular interest to scholars seeking to separate the historical man from his autobiographical persona.
Equally important to the renewing of
Cellini studies is Gallucci's singling out of the earthy, anti-Petrarchan
qualities of the artist's poetry, which serves to open discussion on Renaissance
aret and parody, a potentially rich terrain usually left fallow by an art
history respectful fo teh high seriousness of great art and
artists."--Canadian Art Review
About the Author
Margaret A. Gallucci, a scholar of the Italian Renaissance, earned a
Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkley. A Fulbright scholar, she has
held postdoctoral fellowships at the Italian Academy at Columbia University and
most recently at Villa I Tatti, Harvard University's Center for Italian
Renaissance Studies in Florence.
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Format:Paperback
The book itself is a small paperback with a handful of black
and white reproductions within the first pages. The quality of the contents is
very high. The text is characterized by a staggering level of scholarly research
giving new meaning to the word thorough. It is devoted, in large part to aspects
of Cellini's Vita regarding mode, influences and conventions of the sixteenth
century in Italy. Though I am neither a student nor a scholar, but simply an
artist with a great interest in the subject of this book, Ms. Gallucci has
deepened my understanding of the artist, his strong personality and his colorful
life. The author has made Cellini three dimensional for me.
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