Ascanio

Ascanio by Alexandre Dumas (1840)

Ascanio, an eighteen-year-old goldsmith's apprentice newly arrived in Paris, becomes infatuated with a young woman named Colombe whom he watches leave church services without daring to approach her. Following her one evening, he traces her to the Grand Châtelet and then to the Petit-Nesle, learning en route from a garrulous student, Jacques Aubry, that she is Colombe, daughter of Robert d'Estourville, Provost of Paris, who has appropriated the royal Hôtel de Nesle though he occupies only its smaller building. Ascanio returns to the Paris workshop of his master, the Florentine goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, installed in the former palace of the Cardinal of Ferrara, where he lives alongside the apprentice Pagolo, Cellini's mistress and model Catherine ("Scozzone"), and other workmen. Ascanio reports that the Grand-Nesle would make a fine new studio, and Cellini resolves to obtain it from the king. A long digression recounts Cellini's history: his rivalry and killing of the envious goldsmith Pompeo in Rome, his imprisonment in the Castle of San Angelo under Pope Paul III, his elaborate and successful escape by unpicking his cell door and fashioning a rope from bedsheets, his broken leg and recapture-evading flight to the French ambassador's house, and his eventual pardon and journey to France, where King Francois I welcomes him warmly. Cellini undertakes to sculpt a "Nymph of Fontainebleau" and, unable to find a suitable model among court ladies, discovers Catherine on a Paris street, uses her as his model, and takes her into his household as Scozzone. The narrative returns to the present: Francois I visits Cellini's studio with his court, including the Duchesse d'Etampes, Marguerite de Navarre, and Catherine de Medicis. Cellini charms the king with anecdotes of his exploits, secures a commission for twelve silver statues, negotiates a generous salary, and boldly asks for the Grand-Nesle as his workshop, overriding Madame d'Etampes's objections on behalf of the provost. The king grants it, and Cellini also wins pensions for Ascanio and Pagolo, while pointedly rebuffing the king's interest in Scozzone. In securing the king's favor, Cellini earns Madame d'Etampes's lasting enmity. Sent to inspect the Grand-Nesle, Ascanio instead finds himself face to face with Colombe at the Petit-Nesle under the supervision of the duenna Dame Perrine, and the two exchange charged, tender words about jewelry and love without declaring themselves outright. That same day, however, the provost arrives with Comte d'Orbec, the king's treasurer, and announces Colombe's betrothal to him — a hideous, mercenary old man she recognizes with horror. The provost, warned by the jealous, treacherous Vicomte de Marmagne (another rejected suitor of Colombe) that Cellini has obtained the Grand-Nesle by royal gift, resolves to resist by force, fortifying the hotel with archers. Cellini formally claims the property, is rebuffed, and organizes his workmen — including the powerful German Hermann and mischievous young Jehan — into an armed party to seize the Grand-Nesle by force, enlisting the willing Jacques Aubry along the way. After hearing mass (during which Cellini and Ascanio both privately admire Colombe, unaware to each other that she is the same girl each is contemplating for different reasons), the goldsmith's band attacks the fortified hotel. Hermann rams the door while Cellini snipes defenders from the neighboring Tour de Nesle, but the provost fells Hermann with a thrown stone and drags him back inside. Cellini contrives to force the provost's hand by escorting Colombe and Dame Perrine, caught outside amid the fighting, back to the gate and demanding the provost sally out with all his men for a fair fight in exchange for his daughter's safe entry. The provost agrees, sends Colombe inside, and a fierce swordfight breaks out. Meanwhile Ascanio and Aubry, unaware of these developments, cross into the grounds by an ingenious route over a tree and rope bridge across the moat, free the trapped Hermann, and open the gate from within. Colombe calls Ascanio to help her father, and in the chaos of blades Ascanio deflects Cellini's near-fatal thrust at the provost, taking the blow meant for Messire d'Estourville upon his own shoulder as the gate gives way behind them.

By Alexandre Dumas · First published 1840 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Romance · 42 chapters · 209,711 words

First lines

Time, four o'clock in the afternoon of the tenth day of July in the year of grace 1540. Place, the entrance to the church Des Grands Augustins, within the precincts of the University, by the receptacle for holy water near the door.

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historical fiction · romance · adventure · classic literature · French literature · 19th century literature · epistolary novel · coming of age · family drama · political intrigue · dueling · travel

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