The porphyry portrait of Benvenuto Cellini in the National Museum of Renaissance
The attributions of Benvenuto Cellini (1500 - 1571) physical appearance remain a widely discussed problem. This common issue is well addressed by John Pope-Hennessy in his tome “Benvenuto Cellini”: “We do not know what Benvenuto Cellini looked like in a fairly young age.” ... “There is only one officially recognized portrait of Cellini. It is found among the images of other court artists of the Florentine Duke on a round-shaped fresco by Giorgio Vasari […] Right under the picture of the already aging Cellini one finds a caption reading Benvenuto SCVL.” (Fig.1) In the late XIX century French editor and erudite Eugen Plon entered to the field of public awareness an artifact, known today as the “porphyry portrait of Benvenuto Cellini” (Fig. 2). Today, this artifact is kept in the National Museum of Renaissance in Chateau d’Écouen, France, under the inventory code 12877. The recent multidisciplinary studies prove, that this portrait does not represent the sculptor’s facial treats.