Wednesday, January 9, 2019

One of my favourite jewels from antiquity/the Renaissance is Benvenuto Cellini's integrated cameo of a chariot and horses, 1530 to 1545.The fragment of the cameo is Hellinistic (ancient Greek, circa 150BC) and features a chariot with two horses and its driver. With great skill, Cellini has taken his cues from the lower fragment of the cameo, and depicted the missing upper section. The hind legs of the horses suggest their rearing motion, and the legs of the driver, and his crop, do suggest that his body is turned to face the horses.The detail work!Who is Benvenuto Cellini, and why does his name sound familiar? Cellini is best known as a sculptor from the Italian Renaissance pantheon of sculptors that includes Michelangelo and Donatello, and is especially famous for his sculpture of Perseus and Medusa, which resides in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence.Cinelli started his career as a goldsmith.See, jewelers can have many abilities.The brooch resides in Florence at the Museo Archelogico Nazionale .

Posted at 01:42 PM