第17章　切利尼创作“珀耳修斯”

意大利有一个家喻户晓的、技术最高超的金匠，名叫本韦努托·切利尼。由于他用黄金、白银和宝石雕琢而成的作品都极其精美，因此如今我们保存下来的为数不多的那几件样品，全都保存在博物馆里，被人们认为是无价之宝呢。

虽说切利尼是一位金匠，可他却觉得，自己也可以创作出优秀的雕塑作品来。尽管他很喜欢吹嘘这一点，可他总能兑现每一句大话，因为后来表明，他的青铜雕塑确实像他自夸的那样优秀哩。

切利尼住在佛罗伦萨。当时的佛罗伦萨公爵要他制作一尊青铜雕塑，描绘珀耳修斯砍掉美杜莎这个丑陋怪物脑袋时的情形。切利尼努力工作了很久的时间，才制作出了一个他认为刚好合适的《珀耳修斯砍下美杜莎头颅》的陶土模型来。接着，他便开始用青铜来浇铸这尊塑像。

如今，一位雕塑家倘若想要制作一尊青铜雕塑的话，首先会制作出一个陶土模型，然后再将陶土模型送到青铜铸造厂，由铸造厂去浇铸塑像。这对雕塑家来说较为轻松，因为他可以将所有时间都放到制作雕塑模型上，而不必亲自去用青铜浇铸出雕像来。可在“文艺复兴”时期，像切利尼这样的雕塑家，通常既需制作陶土模型，还得亲自去用青铜浇铸出雕像。雕塑家去干这种事情，通常都是很不容易的。

切利尼的这尊《珀耳修斯砍下美杜莎头颅》，尺寸原定比真人大；可当时佛罗

casting of such a big statue.Even the Duke of Florence told Cellini he thought it would be unwise for a goldsmith who is used to working with tiny jewels to cast a large bronze statue.

All this discussion, however, made Cellini all the more anxious to do the bronze statue. He began by building a furnace to melt the bronze.Then he dug a pit to put the mold in and connected it with tubes so that the melted bronze could run down into the mold and harden.The mold was just the shape of the statue.To make it easier, Cellini cast the Medusa part of the statue first.Medusa turned out very well indeed.

Then Cellini began casting Perseus. This was much harder to do because of its greater size and peculiar shape.The fire in the furnace melting the bronze got so hot that the roof of Cellini's house caught fire.Cellini himself had to work like a fiend to keep the fire burning in the furnace.He became so exhausted that he suddenly became ill and had to go to bed, telling his helpers what to do.He felt so sick he thought he was going to die.

Before long, one of the helpers came to Cellini's room and told him the statue was ruined, as the bronze was not melting right. Cellini, in spite of his sickness, jumped out of bed and ran to the furnace.He was a very hot-tempered man and now he was so angry with his helpers that he frightened them and they jumped every time he spoke.

During his rage, a storm had moved in and it began to rain. Cellini sent two men out for more wood for the furnace fire and then the fire got so hot that the roof caught fire again.Cellini ordered some of the helpers to put up boards or carpets to help keep off the rain.

伦萨的许多人都说，切利尼这位金匠是不可能浇铸出这样一尊大型的青铜雕塑来的。连佛罗伦萨公爵本人也曾对切利尼说，他觉得，让一位习惯于制作小型珠宝的金匠来浇铸一尊大型的青铜雕像，可能有点儿失策呢。

然而，这些指指点点，反而使得切利尼更加心切地要制作出这尊青铜雕像了。他首先建造了一座用于熔化青铜的炉子。接着，他又挖了一个大坑来放置模具，并用管道将模具与炉子连接起来，好让熔化的青铜顺着管道下流到模具里，然后冷却、硬化。模具的外形，就是成品雕塑的样子。为了省时省力，切利尼首先浇铸的是雕塑上的美杜莎这一部分。结果表明，美杜莎这一部分的确浇铸得很不错。

接下来，切利尼开始浇铸珀耳修斯这一部分。这一部分要难浇铸得多，因为它的尺寸比美杜莎大很多，形状也很特别。由于熔化青铜的炉火烧得过旺，因此切利尼家的屋顶都被点着了。切利尼自己必须像传说中的恶魔一样，尽力让炉火不致熄灭。因为太过劳累，他一下子病倒了，只能卧床休息，吩咐帮工去干。他病得极其厉害，一度以为自己快要死了呢。

不久后，一名帮工跑到切利尼的房间里来，对他说那尊雕像毁了，因为青铜熔化得不合适。尽管生着病，切利尼还是从床上一跃而起，向熔炉跑去。他的脾气本来就很暴躁，此时更是对着帮工们大发雷霆，把他们都吓坏了，因此他每说一句话，帮工们都会吓得跳起来。

就在他大发脾气的过程中，一场暴风雨降临，开始下起雨来。切利尼派两人出去，搬来了更多的木柴，把炉火烧旺；可之后弄得火势过猛，又一次把房顶点着了。切利尼命令几名帮工将板子或毡毯搭起来挡雨。然后，他们又用很长的铁棍搅

Then they stirred the bronze with long iron rods until it began to be the right thickness again.

Suddenly there was a great flash of light and the crash of an explosion. They were all too scared to move.Then Cellini saw that the cap of the furnace had blown off and the bronze was bubbling over the top.So he quickly opened the tubes that would let the metal flow into the mold below.

Still the bronze didn't flow freely. Cellini thought the great heat had eaten up the metal that was mixed with the copper to make it flow.What was he to do?You'll never guess what he did.

He got all the pewter platters, bowls, and dishes in the house and threw them into the melting bronze. Pewter is a soft metal that was often used for dishes.The pewter melted and mixed with the bronze.The bronze flowed and soon the mold was filled.The scheme had worked.Cellini was so pleased he forgot all about his sickness.The next morning the servants had to go out and buy new dishes before they could serve breakfast.

拌炉中的青铜熔液，直到熔液开始再次达到合适的稠度。

突然之间，天空中划过一道巨大的闪电，然后又是咔嚓一声炸雷。他们都吓得不敢动弹。后来，切利尼看到炉顶被大风刮掉了，青铜熔液升到了炉顶，不断翻滚着。于是，他马上打开管道的阀门，让青铜熔液顺着管道流向下面的铸模。

可是，青铜熔液流动得仍然不够顺畅。切利尼认为，是炉中的高温熔掉了混入铜液之中、用于让熔液流动起来的那种金属。他该怎么办呢？你们永远都猜不到他采取的办法呢。

他马上将家里所有的白镴盘子、碗碟找出来，全都丢进了青铜熔液当中。白镴是一种质地较软的金属，通常都用于制作盘子。白镴熔化之后，便与青铜熔液混合起来了。青铜熔液流淌起来，很快便注满了模具。这种办法奏效了。切利尼大感欣慰，完全忘掉了自己的病。第二天早上，他的仆人只得出去买来一些新的碗碟，然后大家才有碗碟吃早饭呢。

In the finished statue of Perseus Beheading Medusa-cast in bronze with so much bragging and trouble and excitement by Cellini-Perseus holds up the head of Medusa that he has just cut off. He is not looking at it because that would turn him to stone.The statue was set up in Florence and there it still stands, admired all the more by those who know how hard the artist Cellini worked to cast it.

这尊完工后名叫《珀耳修斯砍下美杜莎头颅》的雕像，是切利尼在夸下海口之后，既经历了巨大的困难，又经历了一个个激动人心的时刻，用青铜浇铸而成的；作品描绘的是珀耳修斯刚刚砍下美杜莎的脑袋，将其提在手中的情形。作品中的珀耳修斯并没有看着美杜莎的脑袋，因为只要看上一眼，他就会变成石头。这尊雕塑坐落在佛罗伦萨，并且如今依然屹立在那里；而人们在得知切利尼这位艺术家经历了那么多艰辛才浇铸出这尊塑像之后，对这件作品就更加景仰了。