Bridging the Gap Between Past & Present:

Cellini, the Renaissance & the Birth of the Modern Individual

By Justin or!y
Modern "estern civili#ation is $ar!ed %y two distinctive features which delineate
it fro$ the other $a&or for$s of hu$an civili#ation: a strong e$phasis upon
individualis$ and adherence to an understanding of society that views it through the lens
of co$part$entali#ation' (he first of these traits can %e contrasted with )co$$unalis$,)
an understanding of the self that consists totally of the relationship that one has to the
greater co$$unity, which not only defines the individual)s past %ut also dictates his
future' "ithin the "estern $ind, while the individual cannot %e cleaved fro$ the society
that $a!es up so $uch of his identity, that social identity is not supposed to %e his totality
for he $ust, if he is to %e truly hu$an, %e a%le to $aintain the independence to dictate to
hi$self his own fate, his own future, regardless of what the greater co$$unity desires,
desires which should not have, at least always, the a%ility to override this individual will
to a singular destiny' *urther$ore, co$part$entali#ation, the second trait, re+uires that
we %e a%le to ta!e the otherwise overawing entity of society and %rea! it down into
$anagea%le divisions, such as )secular) and )religious,) )pu%lic) and )private,) that can
operate independently fro$ one another and that we thus can focus upon as we desire,
allowing us to operate freely within a society that lets us choose our level of interaction
with its co$ponents, as opposed to a society where all ele$ents are fused into an all,
enco$passing way of life fro$ which there is no escape, where the distinctions %etween
the religious, pu%lic and private spheres are o%literated'
owever, these distinctive traits not only delineate $odern "estern society fro$
other societies- they also delineate it fro$ its own past %ecause they are only relatively
recent innovations that e$erged during the tu$ultuous shift fro$ the Middle .ges to the
Modern Period !nown as the Renaissance and Cellini)s %iography provides us with
insight into that very transition that he and $en li!ed hi$ helped spawn'
Co$$unalis$ still very $uch for$ed part of Cellini)s world' *or Cellini, this
$eant strong ties and intense pride in one)s fa$ily, ancestors and ho$eland' It is for this
reason that his %iography opens up not only with a %rief s!etch of the history of his
fa$ily %ut also of *lorence' .s Cellini says when e/plaining why he %egins his
%iography with his fa$ily, 0(here are $any !inds of conceit, %ut the chief one is concern
to let people !now what a very ancient and gifted fa$ily one descends fro$,0 1p' 234 and
one can practically hear Cellini)s voice +uiver with pride as he notes that *lorence $ay
have %een founded %y Caesar hi$self and clai$s that it was originally designed in
i$itation of Ro$e 1p' 254' . stri!ing e/a$ple of Cellini)s pride in a city which he had
fled fro$ for fear of his own life co$es later on in the %iography when he assaults a $an
for $oc!ing *lorentines and accepts his challenge to a duel 1p' 324'
But %eneath this fa$ilial and civic self,estee$, we find another, dar!er conceit:
Cellini)s pride in his own self' .l$ost every page of this %iography flows with Cellini)s
%oastings of his a%ilities as a golds$ith, his power to $aster new techni+ues and outshine
old $asters in their own fields' ere we find not a collective pride that %reeds a strong
attach$ent to a greater co$$unity %ut a %urning self,o%session with everything that he is
and everything that he does' (his self,o%session leads allows Cellini to construct hi$self
as $ore than &ust the su$ of his social connections, as so$eone who could and should
e/ercise control over his own destiny' (his is reflected even in Cellini)s decision to
%eco$e a golds$ith in the first place' is father wanted nothing $ore than for Cellini to
ta!e up the art of $usic and, although, in order to appease his %eloved father, Cellini
often co$plied, he nevertheless struc! out on his own preferred path whenever
circu$stances allowed' Pro%a%ly the %est e/a$ple of Cellini)s a%ility to forge a cult to
his own individuality was his decision to write this very %iography which would serve as
a depository for all of his $e$ories of his own glory so that they could %e passed on
down to through the generations as a testa$ent to his uni+ue +ualities'
ow does one reconcile such a raw individualis$ with the co$$unal $indset of
a world weighted down with the chains of fa$ilial and co$$unity %onds6 *or Cellini, as
for his conte$poraries and $any others, this was relatively easy %ecause he si$ply had to
view his achieve$ents as achieve$ents not only for his own personal glory %ut for the
glory of his fa$ily and ho$eland as well' .s he hi$self says with what will very +uic!ly
%e revealed to %e false hu$ility, 0'''as for the few honors that I $yself have won for $y
fa$ily'''0 1p' 274' Cellini is thus a%le to har$oni#e his own individualis$ with his
co$$unal identity %y putting the for$er in service of the latter'
But this still leaves the difficulties of co$part$entali#ation' In order to nurture
an individualistic self identity that is separate fro$, though still connected to, the social
identity, it $ust %e possi%le for the individual to )ta$e) society %y %rea!ing it down into
different $anagea%le spheres that the individual can choose to interact with as he wishes'
(his co$part$entali#ation of society had already %egun ta!ing root in the "est as early
as the conflicts %etween the Pope and the 8$peror which helped to delineate the Church
fro$ the 8$pire %ut was still in a process of &uvenile develop$ent %y the ti$e of Cellini'
ow then, could Cellini and his conte$poraries nurture their individualis$ in the face of
a unitary social consciousness that, in its all,enco$passing nature, is caustic to any self,
conception anchored in the individual6 I would argue that Cellini)s strategy, as grandiose
as it was, was to co,opt the very ele$ents $a!ing up this unitary conception of society %y
arguing that God was consistently favoring hi$' .nd so we have the clai$s that Cellini)s
talents are divinely inspired and the stories in which God enacts retri%ution in favor of
Cellini, as in the case of 9uigi Pulci)s death 1p' 5:4, and his father, as in the case of Piero)s
$isfortune 1p' ;74' By %elieving that the <ivine was favoring hi$, even when civil
authorities were running hi$ out of town, Cellini was in fact, in a sense, conceptually
dividing divine authority fro$ civic authority and powers' "hen one has God on one)s
side, it is not too difficult to stand up as oneself, even against the co$$unity'
(he evolution of the "estern way of self,conception is $ore co$plicated than
this of course' =%viously the a%ility to cultivate a strong sense of individuality was
present in "estern society long %efore this point a$ong the powerful and cultured elite'
But it is during the Renaissance that we %egin to see the first inroads of this sense of self,
conception to a growing %ourgeois class and the $asses in general and Cellini>s life story
and %iography, in retrospect, were the har%ingers of this new era'