Important first English edition of Cellini’s celebrated autobiography, with engraved portrait and exceptional provenance from Gabriel Mathias, Huguenot-descended artist and Royal Academy figure.
Bibliographic Details
Author: Cellini, Benvenuto (1500–1571)
Title: The Life of Benvenuto Cellini, Written by Himself
Place of Publication: London
Publisher: Printed for T. Davies
Date: 1771
Pagination: Two volumes; xvi, 384, 404 pp.
Illustrations: Engraved frontispiece portrait of Cellini in Volume I
Binding: Full speckled calf, professionally re-backed with new spines and labels, retaining original boards
Size: 8vo
Provenance: Gabriel Mathias (1719–1804), with ink ownership inscriptions and engraved bookplate depicting three dice; Huguenot-descended London artist associated with Allan Ramsay, Rome, King George III, and the Royal Academy
Condition
Very Good to Good. Bindings professionally re-backed, retaining original boards. Some wear to edges and corners. Leaves generally clean and bright, with faint staining to the head of a few early pages. Please examine images closely or request a more detailed condition report if required.
Edition & Translation
This is the first appearance of Cellini’s autobiography in the English language. The work was originally dictated by Cellini in Italian during the 1550s and first published in Florence in 1728, more than a century after his death.
The English translation was prepared by Thomas Nugent, a prolific and influential translator who introduced a wide range of European historical, literary, and artistic texts to eighteenth-century English readers. Nugent’s version played an important role in shaping the English-speaking reception of Cellini among artists, antiquaries, and Grand Tourists.
Provenance
The principal distinction of this set lies in its strong and highly individual provenance. Volume I bears both the engraved bookplate and ink ownership inscription of Gabriel Mathias (1719–1804), a London-based artist of Huguenot descent.
Mathias was born in London, the son of Jacques Mathias, a Huguenot refugee. He trained under Allan Ramsay from 1739 and later studied in Rome between 1745 and 1748. On his return to England, he became closely involved in the institutional life of British art, administering King George III’s subsidies to the Royal Academy from 1769.
His ownership is marked in two complementary ways: his name appears neatly written in ink at the head of each title page, while the front pastedown carries his highly unusual engraved ex-libris, depicting three dice showing 6, 6, and 6, with his name beneath.
This striking personal device is far removed from the conventional armorial bookplates of the period. Whether intended as a private joke, symbolic allusion, or playful meditation on chance and fortune, it gives the set a distinctive identity and makes it a memorable survivor.
The Work
Cellini’s autobiography remains one of the most vivid and uncompromising personal narratives to survive from the Renaissance. By turns boastful, violent, confessional, and brilliantly observant, it offers rare insight into the lived experience of an artist navigating patronage, rivalry, exile, and imprisonment.
The 1771 English edition reflects the growing Enlightenment fascination with Renaissance genius and artistic personality, and its appeal to contemporary artists makes the Mathias provenance especially fitting.
Notes
A handsome and important first English edition of Cellini’s celebrated autobiography, transformed into an exceptional copy by its named and researchable artist provenance.
Particularly desirable for collectors of Renaissance biography, eighteenth-century translation, Grand Tour literature, Huguenot artistic networks, and unusual engraved bookplates.