Michelangelo's David Michelangelo's David - Guided Tours of Florence
Michelangelo's David is unanimously recognized as a masterpiece of Renaissance art. Carved in less than three years between 1501 and 1504 by a young Michelangelo, not yet thirty, David immediately became a symbol of the city of Florence.
AN ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE CHALLENGE
The colossal 9 arms tall (17.0 ft) marble block sculpted by Michelangelo had already been widely hewn by two other artists who worked on it before him. In 1464 Agostino di Duccio was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo (the cathedral's Office of Works) to sculpt a large statue for one of the buttresses of the apse of Santa Maria del Fiore. But the block of marble, badly hewn, remained unfinished. Ten years later, in 1476, Antonio Rossellino tried again to continue the work but in turn abandoned the difficult undertaking. Twenty-five years later, on September 13, 1501, Michelangelo began working on the David, which he completed in January 1504.
DAVID AND GOLIATH
Michelangelo's David represents the biblical hero of the Old Testament. David's fight against Goliath is taken from the first book of Samuel. The young Israelite shepherd David demonstrated his courage by accepting to challenge the Philistine giant Goliath to a duel. He managed to defeat Goliath with a slingshot, hitting the giant in the center of his forehead. Then he used his enemy's sword to cut off his head. After bringing victory to his people, at Saul's death David became the second king of Israel.
TWO ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSORS
Many artists before Michelangelo represented the future king of Israel. Among the most important Florentine examples, certainly known to Michelangelo, were Donatello's David and Andrea del Verrocchio's David, both kept at the Bargello Museum in Florence. According to the traditional iconography, the two bronze statues show us the 'victorious David', faithful to the biblical narration. A young David with sword in hand, the severed head of Goliath at his feet.
Michelangelo does not represent the victorious hero but the young man in the act of challenging his enemy before the fight. David's gaze is focused on his opponent's face, the body is vibrant and the muscles tense, in a pose of classical inspiration. The exceptionally detailed description of the muscles, veins and tendons testifies to Michelangelo's perfect knowledge of human anatomy.
MICHELANGELO'S DAVID: A 'POLITICAL' STATUE
The execution of David took place in a very particular period of Florentine history. Since 1494, after the expulsion of the Medici, the city was ruled by a republican government that had its seat in Palazzo Vecchio. Considered as a symbol of the republican liberty of Florence, Michelangelo's David was placed in 1504 in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, near the entrance. A colossal guardian defending the republican institutions against the tiranny of the Medici. In 1873, the David was transferred to the Accademia Gallery and later replaced by a marble copy still visible today in Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.
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Michelangelo's David Statue is the protagonist of the Accademia Museum . The David statue was sculpted in Florence by a not yet thirty-year-old Michelangelo, it was transferred from Signoria Square to the Accademia Gallery only in 1873. It is incredible to think that this absolute masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture has spent almost four centuries of life in the open air before arriving in the ga...
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