Page:The Life of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 2.djvu/451

Rh, with reversion to his heirs, by a formal deed of February 5,1563 (new style).

The documents relating to Cellini during the last decade of his life prove that he was constantly in litigation with the Grand Duke regarding payments due to him for the Perseus and other works of art. It appears from them that, whether through his own neglect of art or through the indifference of his princely patrons, he ceased to be employed on undertakings of public importance. At the same time we gather from the same series of papers that he engaged in business speculations with Florentine goldsmiths, and that he invested some capital in purchases of land. The state of his health, which was never robust after the illness of 1559-60, combined with domestic cares, seems to have contributed together with old age to a suspension of his active faculties.

When the Florentines prepared their splendid obsequies for Michel Angelo Buonarroti in the Church of Sta. Croce, upon the 16th of March 1564, Cellini was chosen together with Ammanati to represent the art of Sculpture, while Bronzino and Vasari walked as representatives of Painting in the funeral procession. Vasari in his Life of Michel Angelo relates that Cellini was prevented by ill-health from attending; and this must have been a sore disappointment to one who professed so sincere a devotion to the last great master of Italian art. Indeed, during the closing years of his existence, Cellini suffered from many pressing maladies, the worst and most persistent of which seems to have been the gout. After making several wills during the four previous years, he dictated his last testament on the 18th of December 1570. Codicils were added successively upon the 12th of January, 3rd of February, and 6th of February 1571; and on the 13th of that month he breathed his last. Upon the 15th he was buried with public honours in the