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There are times when artists reveal their most precious secrets. An interesting anecdote in the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini's memoirs describes his rivalry with the painting of his countryman Francesco Primaticcio at the court of Francis I Subjected to his rival's intrigues and machinations during his sojourn in Paris from 1540-45, he saw himself forced one evening to present his sculpture Jupiter, which he had just completed, in the unfavorable twilight of approaching nightfall. Yet Cellini turned the situation to his advantage: "when night came, I set fire to the torch, which standing higher than the head of Jupiter, shed light from above and showed the statue far better than by daytime." Cellini understood how to manipulate the flickering candlelight to intensify the effect of his work: "When the King appeared, I made my apprentice Ascanio push the Jupiter toward his Majesty. As it moved smoothly forwards, my cunning in its turn was amply rewarded, for this gentle motion made the figure seem alive."
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