Golden Years

Jerry Brotton is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London and wants us to take a fresh look at a period in European history usually associated with beauty, harmony and art. His approach contains a health warning: the Renaissance was a lot darker and violent than many of us have imagined. Retracing the life of Benvenuto Cellini through his shocking autobiography, Jerry reveals how this was a time of conflict as well as beauty, creativity as well as tyranny. Cellini arrives in Fontainebleau to work for the French king, Francis I. He makes his first masterpiece, a golden salt cellar. But his repeated sexual indiscretions soon catch up with him. Reader Marco Gambino Producer Mark Rickards A Whistledown Scotland Production