Page:The Life of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 1.djvu/97

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Cellini has, finally, to be estimated as an artist in the narrower sense of that word. While approaching this part of our subject, it is worth remembering that he showed in boyhood a strong predilection for the arts of design. His father longed to make him a musician; but though the lad became a skilful flute-player, he displayed the strongest aversion to this exercise of his talents. On the other hand, his love for drawing and his inborn mastery over technical processes of all kinds made themselves so manifest, that no doubt remained about his real vocation. Like nearly all the greatest Florentine artists before him, sculptors, painters, architects, and engravers, he was put at an early age to the goldsmith's trade. Oreficeria, as then understood, formed an epitome of all the plastic arts. The young goldsmith did not merely learn how to work in precious metals and to set jewels. He was bound to become acquainted with the mysteries of brass-foundry, the methods of hammering iron, the secrets of chiselling steel for medals and casting dies. He had to make himself an expert draughtsman, to study anatomy, to model from the nude, and to acquire familiarity with antique masterpieces. Enamelling and niello formed special branches of his craft; nor could architecture be neglected, because