Even today, years after its completion, that fame endures, drawing curious travelers from around the world to Florence for a glimpse of greatness. Thanks to our Florentine art historians, these are a choice ten facts about the Statue of David that give you a peek behind its perfect veneer:. Michelangelo drew inspiration for this sculpture from the Biblical story of David, the tale of a young shepherd boy who saved the Israelites by slaying the warrior giant Goliath wielding only a sling and a handful of stones.
This classic underdog tale stars a feeble boy, but Michelangelo David is a pinnacle of male perfection. If imitation is the purest form of flattery, Michelangelo would be blushing: the Statue of David has been reproduced in countless ways, from pictures in coffee-table art books, to small replicas of every shape and color, to kitchen aprons you know the ones. In addition to trinkets, there are also 30 life-sized replicas of David around the world, with the most famous of them in Florence itself.
The first is in the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where the David statue was originally erected; the second stands in the Piazzale Michelangelo and is cast in bronze. The Statue of David was originally commissioned in by the Opera del Duomo, as part of a series of large statues for the Florence Cathedral.
The project was initially awarded to Agostino di Duccio, despite his lack of experience with large-scale sculpture. Duccio traveled to the nearby quarries of Carrara to select a marble block, but his inexperience led him astray: he hewed a tall but narrow block full imperfections, tiny holes, and visible veins. The quarry struggled to prepare and ship the massive block, and when it finally arrived in Florence, Duccio realized his error and gave up on the project.
The block was untouched for 10 years until Antonio Rossellino tried to salvage the piece. He, too, quickly deemed the marble unusable, and the block lay in the courtyard of the Opera del Duomo for another 25 years.
Michelangelo was a master of proportion, but when he accepted the commission to sculpt David in , he inherited a block of marble two other sculptors had chipped, chiseled, and ultimately deemed unworkable. Certain characteristics of the Statue of David—notably his slender, twisted figure—are likely due to the shape of the marble before Michelangelo began working.
Because David was intended to be viewed from below, Michelangelo eschewed ideal proportioning and instead carved the head, arms, and hands much larger than the torso and legs. This creates the illusion that David is alert and poised for action, especially when viewed from below. Michelangelo was passing well-trodden ground with a sculptural depiction of David, a subject also explored by great Florentine artists like Ghiberti, Verrocchio, and Donatello.
Michelangelo chose to break with tradition, instead showing the moment before the battle. While the story of David hails from the bible, Michelangelo based the physical form of the statue on the tenets of ancient Roman sculpture—specifically, portrayals of the hero Hercules, long a symbol of the independent city of Florence.
As the statue took form and an awe-inspiring David emerged from the marble, the committee decided this masterpiece was too beautiful—and too heavy—to be placed atop the cathedral. The statue was suspended by ropes on a wooden scaffold, swaying gently as it was pulled and pushed along a series of trunks laid down across the cobblestones. The sling on his left shoulder and tree trunk behind his right leg were covered with gold leaf?
Being outdoors in Piazza della Signoria in the elements for over years washed the gold leaf away :. The story of David and Goliath is a biblical one, found in Book 1 Samuel. The teenage David had to defeat the giant Goliath, he could not be defeated by strength since David was smaller.
It took cunning and skill to defeat someone bigger than him, and he did so with the slingshot. He could only defeat the giant if he caught him by surprise — and he did! The most famous are in Florence itself, outdoors. The first, in Piazza della Signoria, is a copy in the exact spot where the original used to be for over years and the second one is in Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking Florence.
This second one is also made out of bronze instead of marble. But as soon as the David was finished, everyone knew it could not go in that spot way up because it was a masterpiece to be enjoyed. A committee was put together to decide where it should go and thankfully it went in Piazza della Signoria where it could be admired up close.
This website does not sell tickets or tours, but offers visitors the opportunity to book through affiliate links on third party websites. Night at the Museum — July 3 » July 1, David to go to Dubai » April 16, Half an Hour with Raffaello » November 12, Michelangelo, David, , marble. The marble block used by Michelangelo was originally excavated for a statue to be carved by another sculptor in , but the block was not fully carved.
When Michelangelo received his commission in , he was presented with the challenge of using the block which had already been worked upon to some degree. He had to work with what he was given, and in this case it meant that the figure he carved would not project outward beyond the preset block of marble.
The David we are presented with here is a nude man with a very muscular physique. His veins are visible in his arms and hands as he clutches the stones with one hand and the slingshot in the other. His hands and his head appear to be disproportionally large for his body, possibly because they were deemed more visually important for viewers who would see the statue high up on the exterior of the cathedral.
Also, his left leg, which straddles the rocky base upon which he stands, appears a big too long for his body. Like the ancient Hellenistic and Roman sculptures who were masters at convincingly depicting the human anatomy, Michelangelo has depicted David so that his body responds to the stance he is in.
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