. Enamels . ly a fewinches high, with minute enamelled figures in theround all about it, crowded with intricate detailsof Renaissance ornament, gay with jewels andsmall touches of enamel in many parts. Cellini,in his treatises, describes the making of this sortof work fully, and doubtless he introduced thisstyle of ornament to the court of King Francis. The monk Theophilus gave full directions forthe working of cloisonne enamel on gold. Itwould be interesting to compare the wTitings ofthis artist monk, so full of piety, giving his lifeand knowledge to the service of that Church underwhose wing
. Enamels . ly a fewinches high, with minute enamelled figures in theround all about it, crowded with intricate detailsof Renaissance ornament, gay with jewels andsmall touches of enamel in many parts. Cellini,in his treatises, describes the making of this sortof work fully, and doubtless he introduced thisstyle of ornament to the court of King Francis. The monk Theophilus gave full directions forthe working of cloisonne enamel on gold. Itwould be interesting to compare the wTitings ofthis artist monk, so full of piety, giving his lifeand knowledge to the service of that Church underwhose wing he sheltered and worked a lifetime,with those of Cellini, the craftsman-sculptor ofthe Renaissance, who made rich ornaments ingold and enamel for the popes and kings andcourtiers of a luxurious age, who, in spite of allhis boastfulness, his badness, and all his failings,many of them typical of his time, possessed avigour and energy that even now are infectious. Benvenuto Cellini was an able and enthusiastic. INTRODUCTION 37 craftsman, no doubt, though not to be consideredin the same plane as the many great Italian sculp-tors of his time. Nearly all these, besides work-ing in enamel on bas-relief, made jewellery andsmall objects of gold. Cellini, who boastedopenly of how large a range of work he himselfwas capable of producing, goes through the list ofhis contemporaries and gives a scornful descrip-tion of those men who had gained a meresmattering of each different way of working ingold, who tried a great many things at once anddid nothing well. He describes the great artistsof Florence, how they were goldsmiths and en-amellers many of them, as well as painters,sculptors, and architects,—Donatello, Ghiberti,Pollajuolo, Amerigo, Michelangelo, the gold-smith of Pinzidimonte, who worked in so manymaterials, enamel among them, and whom hiscontemporary called a first-rate fellow. The great Mantegna too tried goldsmithmgbut could not manage it well; possibly, afterthe grand style h
Size: 1242px × 2012px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectenamela, bookyear1912
