雙語+MP3|美國學生藝術史48 切利尼鑄造帕爾修斯銅像

 
 
48 CELLINI MAKES HIS PERSEUS切利尼鑄造帕爾修斯銅像
 
A MAN named Benvenuto Cellini became known as the best goldsmith in Italy. His work in gold and silver and precious stones was so wonderful that the few examples we have now are all in museums and are considered priceless. 
Cellini was a goldsmith, but he believed he could do good sculpture too, and although he was very boastful about it, he made good every boast, for his bronze statues turned out to be just as good as he said they would be. 
Cellini lived in Florence and the Duke of Florence asked him to make a bronze statue of Perseus killing Medusa. Cellini worked hard and long on the clay model for the Perseus until he thought it was just right. Then came the work of casting the statue in bronze. 
Nowadays, when a sculptor wants to make a bronze statue, he makes a clay model first and then sends it to the bronze foundry, which makes the statue in bronze. This is easier for the sculptor because he can put all his time on modeling statues and not have to do also all the work of bronze casting. But during the Renaissance a sculptor like Cellini generally had to make the bronze cast himself, as well as the clay model. This was often a very hard thing for a sculptor to do. 
Now, Cellini’s statue of Perseus and Medusa was to be larger than lifesize and many people in Florence said that it would be impossible for Cellini, a goldsmith, to make a good bronze casting of such a big statue. Even the Duke of Florence told Cellini he thought it would be unwise for a goldsmith, who is used to working with tiny jewels, to cast a large bronze statue. 
All this discussion, however, made Cellini the more anxious to do the bronze statue. He began by building a furnace to melt the bronze in. Then he dug a pit to put the mold in and connected it with tubes so the melted bronze could run down into the mold and harden. The mold was just the shape of the statue. To make it easier, Cellini cast the Medusa part of the statue first. The Medusa turned out very well indeed. 
Then Cellini began the casting of Perseus. This was much harder to do, on account of its greater size and peculiar shape. The fire in the furnace melting the bronze got so hot that the roof of Cellini’s house caught fire. Cellini himself had to work like fury to keep the fire burning in the furnace. He got so exhausted that he suddenly became ill and had to go to bed, telling his helpers just what to do. He felt so sick he thought he was going to die. 
 
No.48-1　A CUP BY CELLINI IN THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK 
（《杯子》切利尼　制） 
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Before long, one of the helpers came to Cellini’s room and told him the statue was ruined, as the bronze was not melting right. Cellini, in spite of his sickness, jumped out of bed and dashed to the furnace. He was a very hot-tempered man and now he was in such a rage with his stupid helpers that he frightened them so they jumped every time he spoke. 
A storm had come up and it began to rain. Cellini sent two men out for more wood for the furnace fire and then the fire got so hot the roof caught again. Cellini ordered some of the helpers to put up boards or carpets to help keep off the rain. Then they stirred the bronze with long iron rods until it began to be the right thickness again. 
Suddenly there was a great flash of light and the crash of an explosion. They were all too scared to move. Then Cellini saw that the cap of the furnace had blown off and the bronze was bubbling over the top. So he quickly opened the tubes that would let the metal flow into the mold below. 
Still the bronze didn’t flow freely. Cellini thought the great heat had eaten up the metal that was mixed with the copper to make it flow. What was he to do? You’ll never guess what he did. 
What he did was to get all the pewter platters, bowls, and dishes in the house and throw them into the melting bronze. Pewter is a soft metal that was often used for dishes. The pewter melted and mixed with the bronze. The bronze flowed and soon the mold was filled. The scheme had worked. Cellini was so pleased he forgot all about his sickness and felt as well as ever. The next morning the servants had to go out and buy a lot of new dishes before they could serve breakfast. 
Here is the picture of the finished statue of Perseus killing Medusa, cast in bronze with so much bragging and trouble and excitement, by Cellini. Perseus holds up the head which he has just cut off. He is not looking at it, because that would turn him to stone. Notice the queer-looking sword. Notice also that Cellini has made the blood flowing from Medusa in bronze, too. 
The statue was set up in Florence and there it still stands, admired all the more by those who know how hard Cellini worked to cast it. 
 
N048-2　PERSEUS AND MEDUSA 
（《帕爾修斯和美杜莎》） 
CELLINI（切利尼　制）