AS I have just said, his Majesty affected to concur with the Cardinal,
but his own private mind was otherwise made up. Accordingly, upon the
day after his arrival, without solicitation upon my part, he came of his
own accord to my house. I went to meet him, and conducted him through
several rooms where divers works of art were on view. Beginning with the
less important, I pointed out a quantity of things in bronze; and it was
long since he had seen so many at once. Then I took him to see the
Jupiter in silver, now nearly completed, with all its splendid
decorations. It so happened that a grievous disappointment which he had
suffered a few years earlier, made him think this piece more admirable
than it might perhaps have appeared to any other man. The occasion to
which I refer was this: After the capture of Tunis, the Emperor passed
through Paris with the consent of his brother-in-law, King Francis, [1]
who wanted to present him with something worthy of so great a potentate.
Having this in view, he ordered a Hercules to be executed in silver,
exactly of the same size as my Jupiter. The King declared this Hercules
to be the ugliest work of art that he had ever seen, and spoke his
opinion plainly to the craftsmen of Paris. They vaunted themselves to be
the ablest craftsmen in the world for works of this kind, and informed
the King that nothing more perfect could possibly have been produced in
silver, insisting at the same time upon being paid two thousand ducats
for their filthy piece of work. This made the King, when he beheld mine,
affirm that the finish of its workmanship exceeded his highest
expectations. Accordingly he made an equitable judgment, and had my
statue valued also at two thousand ducats, saying: “I gave those other
men no salary; Cellini, who gets about a thousand crowns a year from me,
can surely let me have this masterpiece for two thousand crowns of gold,
since he has his salary into the bargain.” Then I exhibited other things
in gold and silver, and a variety of models for new undertakings. At the
last, just when he was taking leave, I pointed out upon the lawn of the
castle that great giant, which roused him to higher astonishment than
any of the other things he had inspected. Turning to his Admiral, who
was called Monsignor Aniballe, [2] he said: “Since the Cardinal had made
him no provision, we must do so, and all the more because the man
himself is so slow at asking favours--to cut it short, I mean to have
him well provided for; yes, these men who ask for nothing feel that
their masterpieces call aloud for recompense; therefore see that he gets
the first abbey that falls vacant worth two thousand crowns a year. If
this cannot be had in one benefice, let him have two or three to that
amount, for in his case it will come to the same thing.” As I was
standing by, I could hear what the King said, and thanked his Majesty at
once for the donation, as though I were already in possession. I told
him that as soon as his orders were carried into effect, I would work
for his Majesty without other salary or recompense of any kind until old
age deprived me of the power to labour, when I hoped to rest my tired
body in peace, maintaining myself with honour on that income, and always
bearing in mind that I had served so great a monarch as his Majesty. At
the end of this speech the King turned toward me with a lively gesture
and a joyous countenance, saying, “So let it then be done.” After that
he departed, highly satisfied with what he had seen there.
Note 1. In the year 1539 Charles V obtained leave to traverse France
with his army on the way Flanders.
Note 2. Claude d’ Annebault; captured at Pavia with François; Marshall
in 1538; Admiral of France in 1543.