'If this is supposed to be so empowering for women, why is Medusa so skinny and pube-less? This seems more like some man's fantasy than a commentary on sexual assault,' one person said. However the concept of the statue fell flat among some feminists, with people taking to Twitter to express their disappointment. (f-1).'That's the most important thing you can say about this sculpture but also that she has defended her life and set a boundary.' Now Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, in Vienna. Cellini’s Saliera, created for King Francis I, 1540-1543. Thinking that he was about to die, he decided to settle all the unpaid salaries to everyone. XC)Ĭellini wrote that there was a time when Cosimo I was in arrears in paying the monthly salaries of his employees – until he became very ill one day. From the commencement to the middle and the ending, everything that I had done had been performed to my great disadvantage….” - Cellini (Autobiography, ch. Too well I knew already the great and irreparable sacrifice I made when I left France nor could I discover any reasonable ground for hope that I might prosper in the future with my prince and patron. “… cursing the unhappy day which brought me to Florence. He deeply regretted having returned to Florence and having abandoned his position in Paris, working for the more generous King Francis I. For instance, King Francis paid him 1,000 gold crowns for his most famous work (next to the Perseus & Medusa) – the golden Saliera ( Cellini Salt Cellar, 1543) – even before he started the project.Ĭellini always bemoaned his “misfortune” working on the Perseus and Medusa for Cosimo I. For every object of art that Cellini created, the French King awarded him additional generous gratuities which he received promptly. He drew a yearly salary of 700 gold crowns in France – whereas Cosimo I gave him only 200 gold crowns. In contrast to the Duke, King Francis I apparently gave him as many workmen as he needed for his workshop. King Francis I, patron of the French renaissance – painting by Joos van Cleve’s workshop, 1530. Read the short story I derived from the most ancient sources, The Story of Perseus, Retold. Perseus = Absolute Power of the Medici Monarchy.īefore it became a political metaphor, there’s more to the story than Perseus’ beheading of Medusa. Thus, in 16th-century Florence, Perseus’ conquest of the Gorgon Medusa, was a powerful metaphor that conveyed: And with a very sharp sword, he beheaded the monster while she was asleep. Using a shiny shield that he used as a mirror he was able to avoid looking directly at Medusa. Perseus, the legendary Greek demi-god, went on a quest to slay the monster. In the myth, Medusa was a Gorgon monster with snakey hair and a stare that could turn men into stone. The Duke immediately commissioned Cellini to create a colossal bronze sculpture of Perseus beheading Medusa. In the tradition of allegorical displays of power through art, the Duke wanted a fitting symbol of his victory over his political enemies and an unmistakable warning to Florence citizens who, still, might harbor republican tendencies. (Learn more about the Medici of Florence here). Unlike his progenitor Cosimo the Elder who ruled Florence a hundred years before him and who avoided explicit displays of power, Cosimo I did the opposite. (Later, he would become Grand Duke of all of Tuscany). Cosimo I had been installed a few years earlier as the Duke of Florence, a city-state that had recently overcome its resurgent republican rebels. Upon returning to his hometown, Cellini introduced himself to Cosimo I de’ Medici.
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