Bust of Cosimo I de' Medici

The bust is recorded as finished in the spring of 1548. In a letter to the Duke, Cellini says that in this head "there is a most abundant likeness, in accord with the lofty manner of the ancients, given the bold movement of life, full of diverse and lascivious adornments, and most diligently worked". The concepts of the goldsmith's and virtuoso's "manner" of imitation and technique are all expressed in it. The portrait becomes a pretext for creating a precious object in which illusionism and formal abstraction coincide.