The Mannerist Art of Benvenuto Cellini,

Italian Renaissance Artists: A - L	Italian Renaissance Artists: M - Z	Italian Renaissance Movements/Periods	Other News in Art	Glossary of Terms
Contemporary Abstract Art	Elegant Fireplace Screens	Oil Painting Reproductions	Sculpture Reproductions	Fine Art Puzzles

Find out how and why you should buy your
oil painting reproductions from Fine Art Touch.

The Mannerist Art of Benvenuto Cellini

Cellini's Saltcellar of Francis I, Mannerist Art

The Salieri (Saltcellar)
of Francis I
by Benvenuto Cellini
1540-43, gold and enamel with ebony base,
26 x 33,5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Click here to see our fine art reproductions.

Florentine Mannerist artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1572) wrote one of the most engaging memoirs ever written, claiming descent back 1500 years to a captain under the command of Julius Caesar in the 1st c B.C. Cellini is described by others as boisterous, licentious, sensual, a murdering braggart. Nevertheless, this ruffian produced Mannerist style art works of remarkable beauty for a king. One such Mannerist work is The Saltcellar of Francis I commissioned by the King of France. Executed in 1540-43, Cellini's Mannerist masterpiece in gold and enamel depicts the god of the sea, Neptune, and the goddess of agriculture, Ceres, fitting figures to grace a king's dining room table. Cellini himself describes the work a "the interminglement of land and ocean."

The two figures are seated leaning back with their legs interlaced. Typical of Mannerist art, the center of the composition is completely empty, and the figures are posed in strained, unbalanced postures. Neptune places his hand on a ship which held salt for the table, while Ceres rests her hand on a temple which held pepper. The rest of this Mannerist composition is luxuriantly decorated with various flora, fauna, and sea life. Important guests at the king's table would have been seated closest to the Saltcellar. Despite his grandiose claims and constant difficulties with both civil and papal authorities, Cellini remains one of the most extraordinary Mannerist artists of the Late Renaissance. He was born and died in Florence.

Brenda Harness, Art Historian

QUOTE
OF THE
WEEK

"Practise what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know."

-Rembrandt van Rijn

Thank you for visiting
Fine Art Touch!

Please come again soon!

Welcome !

Home

◦	Sale Items

Italian Renaissance Art

◦	Most Famous Artists
◦	Periods/Movements
◦	According to Vasari
◦	Nero's Golden House
◦	Artist Listing: A - L
◦	Artist Listing: M - Z

Art Patronage

◦	Italian Renaissance Courts
◦	Este Court of Ferrara
◦	Gonzaga Court of Mantua
◦	The Rise of the Medici
◦	Lorenzo de' Medici/Early
◦	Lorenzo de' Medici/Late

Trecento (Proto-Renaissance)

◦

Giotto

Early Renaissance

◦	Fra Angelico
◦	Brunelleschi
◦	Masaccio
◦	Tribute Money
◦	Holy Trinity
◦	Ghiberti
◦	Donatello
◦	David
◦	Gattamelata
◦	Ghirlandaio
◦	Luca della Robbia
◦	Uccello
◦	Piero della Francesca
◦	Castagno
◦	Fra Filippo Lippi
◦	Pollaiuolo
◦	Mantegna
◦	Melozzo da Forli
◦	Perugino
◦	Verrocchio
◦	Botticelli
◦	Botticelli's Model, Simonetta Vespucci
◦	Cestello Annunciation

High Renaissance

◦	Leonardo
◦	Leonardo Timeline
◦	Verrocchio's Studio
◦	Annunciation to the Virgin
◦	Last Supper
◦	Mona Lisa
◦	Where Is The Real Mona Lisa Now?
◦	Da Vinci's Notebooks
◦	Vitruvian Man
◦	Portrait of Ginevra de'Benci
◦	Yarn Winder Madonna
◦	Madonna & Child w/St. Anne
◦	Great Bronze Horse
◦	Raphael
◦	School of Athens
◦	Transfiguration of Christ
◦	Miraculous Draught of Fishes
◦	Prophet Isaiah
◦	Madonna of the Chair
◦	Rivals Raphael vs Michelangelo
◦	Raphael Portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici, Renaissance Prince
◦	Michelangelo
◦	Michelangelo Timeline
◦	David by Michelangelo
◦	Last Judgment
◦	The Pieta
◦	The Medici Tombs
◦	Correggio
◦	Andrea del Sarto

Venetian Renaissance

◦	Venetian Painting Technique
◦	Jacopo Bellini
◦	Carpaccio
◦	Titian
◦	Venus of Urbino
◦	Danae & the Shower of Gold
◦	Sacred and Profane Love

Mannerism

◦	Parmigianino
◦	Bronzino
◦	Giulio Romano
◦	Cellini
◦	Saltcellar of Francis I
◦	Cellini's Saltcellar Found
◦	Tintoretto
◦	Arcimboldo

Published Articles

◦	The Face That Launched A Thousand Prints
◦	Renaissance Humanism, Embraced Then Rejected
◦	Women As Edible Art
◦	Botticelli, The Dark Side of Art
◦	For That Knee Alone
◦	Cellini's Autobiography
◦	What Nero Did For You

About Us

Press Releases

◦	Fine Art Touch Website Launched on 09-29-2006
◦	Fine Art Reprodutions Now Available - 11-26-2006