As reported by the Austrian agency APA, on the night of Sunday, May 11, a sculpture by the famous Italian master Benvenuto Cellini, 'Saliera', better known as the 'salt cellar of King Francis I', was stolen from the Vienna Museum of Art History. The rarity was stolen quite unpretentiously: presumably, around four in the morning, someone climbed to the second floor of the museum - fortunately, a stepladder was nearby - and, having broken the glass case where the jewelry masterpiece was kept, made off with a 26-centimeter gold piece of tableware.
And the point is not even that the museum director Wilfried Seipel estimated the stolen 'Saliera' at at least 50 million euros. The legacy of the famous adventurer, jeweler, duelist, sculptor, artilleryman, prisoner, monk and writer of the 16th century, Benvenuto Cellini, is quite small. Strictly speaking, it is minuscule.
Jewelry pieces made by him were so actively sold, stolen and melted down that in the end the master's creative heritage came to naught. By the way, the beginning of this squandering was laid by Cellini himself, who received a life sentence on charges of theft, which, however, was limited to a two-year stay in the Castle of Sant'Angelo.
As a result, until recently the only authentic work of jewelry art by Cellini was that very Viennese salt cellar, plus a few other little things: medals and coins made for Pope Clement VII and Alessandro de' Medici, as well as sketches for a decorative clasp for Clement VII's vestments. With the sculptural heritage it is a little better - the Louvre's 'Nymph of Fontainebleau' and other 'Perseus' and 'Crucifixion' works are still in place, but the trouble is - Cellini was truly unsurpassed as a jeweler, but as a sculptor he was quite mediocre. So, strictly speaking, now we are left without Cellini.
The Austrians are falling over themselves to justify themselves - blaming either the faulty alarm system, although motion sensors are installed throughout the building, or the negligent police officers who did not respond to the security system that had nevertheless been triggered. The fact remains - the 'Saliera' has been stolen. The likelihood that it will surface somewhere is negligible, because selling it on the market is about the same as trying to put the 'Mona Lisa' up for an online auction: exhibits of this level are not for sale.
There is one hope - maybe, following good tradition, they will again toss it into a toilet?