Cellini’s Dog

THE SCHOLARLY ATTENTION that has been traditionally afforded to Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71) eluded Barucco, his beloved and oft-mentioned dog. The sole bibliographical source at our disposal concerning Cellini’s dog is the artist’s celebrated autobiography, La vita di Benvenuto di Maestro Giovanni Cellini fiorentino scritta per lui medesimo in Firenze, composed in Florence between 1558 and 1566 and not printed until 1728.While the autobiography has been extensively studied by Cellini scholars, the episodes related to Cellini’s pet still await their scholarly due. Apart from an insightful footnote by Lorenzo Bellotto in his 1996 edition of Cellini’s Vita, there has only been silence about what function this animal with the intriguing name might have in Cellini’s life, writings, and art.