Benvenuto Cellini lived from November 1, 1500, through February 13, 1571.  During his life he was a goldsmith, sculptor, draftsman, soldier, musician and artist.  In his spare time he wrote poetry and his world famous autobiography.

He is considered by those who know these things as one of the most important artists of Modernism.   This period of art incorporates a variety of approaches and is an intellectual reaction to High Renaissance work such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.  These qualities are exaggerated and in a sense can be seen as asymmetrical and unnaturally elegant.  Examples of his most famous work includes the Salt Cellar and Perseus with the Head of Medusa.

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini was completed in five years being finished when Cellini was 63 years old.  His memoir details his career, loves, hatreds, passions and is written in a direct, even racy style.  From his writing, we find he had an extravagant degree of self-regard.  In the midst of his already extraordinary life, he inserted incredulous but entertaining accounts of devils, mistresses, murder and other fantastic events that are at times hard to find credible.

Whatever else might be said of the work, it is highly entertaining and very colorful in its tales.

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Chapter 33 may be read here:

http://www.bartleby.com/31/2033.html

Or, alternatively, listened to in an audiobook format here: