Life was never dull for the gifted Italian sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, if one is to believe the grandiose assertions in his autobiography. With an artist's eye for detail and a curmudgeon's penchant for complaints, Cellini supplies an occasionally suspect but always entertaining account of his flamboyant exploits in the tumultuous 16th-century world of Galileo, Michelangelo and the Medicis. Written between 1558 and 1562, this colorful chronicle still stands as one of the foremost firsthand accounts of Renaissance Italy. Translated by renowned 19th-century author John Addington Symonds, this edition is further enhanced by dozens of b&w line drawings and 16 full-color illustrations by Salvador Dali.