, his sister Margaret of Valois, the Dauphin and his
wife Catherine de' Medici, the Cardinal of Lorraine, Henry II. of
Navarre, and a numerous train of courtiers. The artist and his merry
men were at work on the famous silver statue of Jupiter for
Fontainebleau, and amid the noise of the hammering the king entered
unperceived. Cellini had the torso of the statue in his hand, and at
that moment a French lad who had caused him some little displeasure
had felt the weight of the master's foot, which sent him flying
against the king. But the artist had done a bad day's work by evicting
a servant of Madame d'Estampes from the tower, and the injured lady
and Primaticcio, her _protege_, decided to work his ruin. When Cellini
arrived at Fontainebleau with the statue, Francis ordered it to be
placed in the grand gallery decorated by Rosso. Primaticcio had just
arranged there the casts which he had been commissioned to bring from
Rome, and Benvenuto saw what was meant--his own work was to be
eclipsed by the splendour of the masterpieces of ancient art. "Heaven
help me!" cried he, "this is indeed to fall against the pikes!" Now
the god held the globe of the earth in the left hand, the thunderbolt
in the right. The artist contrived to thrust a portion of a large wax
candle as a torch between the flames of the bolt, and set the statue
up on its gilded pedestal. Madame entertained the king late at table,
hoping that he would either forget the work or see it in a bad light;
but when Francis entered the gallery late at night, followed by his
courtiers, "which by God's grace was my salvation," says Cellini, the
statue was illuminated by a flood of light from the torch which so
enhanced its beauty that the king was ravished with delight, and
expressed himself in ecstatic praise, declaring the statue to be more
beautiful and more marvellous than any of the antique casts around.
His enemies were thus discomfited, and on Madame d'Estampes
endeavouring to depreciate the work, she was grossly mocked by the
artist in a very characteristic and quite untranscribable way.
Benvenuto was more than ever patronised by the king, who did him the
great honour of accosting him as _mon ami_, and approving his scheme
for the fortification of Paris. Cellini often recalled with pleasure
the four years he spent with the _gran re Francesco_ at Paris.

[Footnote 105: The Petit Nesle comprised the south-west gate and
tower: the Grand Nesle, the Hotel de Nesle wit