Benvenuto Cellini
From QueerBio.com
Country
Italy
Birth - Death
1500 - 1571
Occupation
Artist
Description
Sculptor, musician, poet, and artist. Considered a leading figure of Mannerism. Notable works include 'Perseus with the Head of Medusa'. Notable also for his works of decorative arts. At one point faced charges of sodomy, but was bisexual. Much of Cellini's notoriety, and perhaps even fame, derives from his memoirs, begun in 1558 and abandoned in 1562, which were published posthumously under the title The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. As noted by one biographer, 'His amours and hatreds, his passions and delights, his love of the sumptuous and the exquisite in art, his self-applause and self-assertion, make this one of the most singular and fascinating books in existence.'
