A contemporary of Michelangelo, Cellini’s lived a fascinating life, at least as told by him.
I took most everything he said at face value, until he got to the part with the necromancer’s ritual, during which hundreds or thousands of spirits of demons and/or the dead appeared physically to him and he conversed with them. After that part, I took everything he said (even the non-supernatural bits) with a grain of salt.
If he’s to be believed, Cellini killed a lot of people, both in acts of war and personal vendettas. Several people also tried to murder him, including his rivals putting bounties on his head. It’s surprising how much of his world seems very modern, yet how commonplace homicide is in it.
I learned on May 19th, having finished about half of the audiobook, that there is a print version illustrated by Salvador Dali, and now I feel I’m missing out a bit by not being able to see the illustrations.