Vita. Orefice Et Scultore Fiorentino Da Lui Medesimo Scritta. Nella Quale Si Leggono Molte Importanti Notizie Apparteneti Alle Arti Ed Alla Storia Del Secolo Xvi. Ora Per La Prima Volta Ridotta A Buona Lezione Ed Accompagnata Con Note Da Gio. Palamede Carpani. Cellini, Benvenuto.

An early 19th-century edition of the Renaissance artist's autobiography, together with his Treatises on goldsmithing and sculpture, in a well-preserved contemporary binding. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), a pre-eminent goldsmith, sculptor, musician, and soldier, composed his autobiography after being sentenced to home confinement for sodomy. The work, first published posthumously in 1728, provides a vivid account of his restless career in the Rome of Clement VII, the France of Francis I, and the Florence of Cosimo de Medici. This edition attests to Cellini's immediate and enduring popularity with the nascent Romantic movement. Provenance: Vol. 1 carries the ink inscription "Richard Temple 1824" on the half-title. This may be the father (1800-1874) of Sir Richard Temple (1826-1908), governor of Bombay from 1877 to 1880. Three volumes, octavo (210 x 124 mm). Contemporary green straight-grain sheep, spines lettered, ruled, and decorated in gilt, with raised bands, marbled paper sides, endpapers, and edges, blue silk bookmarkers. Engraved frontispieces to Vols. 1 & 2, with tissue guards. Light wear, faint foxing to endpapers and content margins: a very good copy.