Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s friend and first biographer, states “anyone who has seen the David has no need to see anything else by any other sculptor, living or dead.”1 Michelangelo’s David is perhaps the world’s most recognizable statue. Each year, millions of tourists travel to Italy to see one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. This seventeen foot marble statue resides in The Accademia Museum in Florence.2
Originally the statue of David was intended to be one of twelve Old Testament statues to serve as buttresses of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy.3 The Overseers of Office of Works of the Duomo gave Sculptor Agostino di Duccio, in 1464, the commission for David. This patron church group was responsible for the maintenance and decoration of the cathedral. Di Duccio abandoned the project for unknown reasons after beginning to shape the legs, chest, and feet.4 Next, Antonio Rossellino was commissioned to continue on the David, but his contract was terminated soon thereafter.5 The eighteen foot tall block of white, Carrera marble sat exposed to the weather in the yard of the cathedral workshop for twenty-five years. The Operai began again to interview artists including Leonardo da Vinci to complete the project of the statue.6 On August 16, 1501, Michelangelo convinced the Opera Del Duomo (Cathedral Works Committee) to give him the contract for the commission of the David. At the time he was merely 26 years old.7
Michelangelo was a citizen of the city- state of Florence. Between 1501 and 1504, when he created David, Italy as a nation was very young, and the power resided in individual cities. Stokstad states, “Michelangelo’s powerful David stands for the supremacy of right over might- a perfect emblem for the Florentines, who had recently fought the forces of Milan, Siena, and Pisa, and still faced political and military pressure.”8 When the statue of David was placed in the city square, the people of Florence immediately identified with him, as a smart victor over a far superior enemy. At this time in Renaissance history, Florence was a republican state, recently casting off the ruling Medici family, so David was a symbol of strength and power to the citizens.9 This new David would remind future governors of Florence to protect their people from injustice as King David had done.
“Michelangelo’s David is based on the artistic discipline of disegno, which is an artistic discipline built on knowledge of the male human form. Under this discipline, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because it mimics divine creation. Because Michelangelo adhered to the concepts of disegno, he worked under the premise that the image of David was already in the block of stone he was working on.”10 Some say he believed that his hands merely released the form from its rock enclosure. In the Bible, David is a young shepherd who slays the giant Goliath, then becomes a brave and just king. Sculptors such as Donatello and Verrocchio depict the boy David standing over Goliath’s severed head. Michelangelo’s young adult depiction of David is one before battle; his sling shot over his left shoulder and a rock in his right hand.11 Michelangelo began the work using a wax cast, then moved onto the marble medium. The David’s right hand is sculpted much larger than the left one, perhaps an intentional move by the artist to indicate strength.12 The sculpture has an uncircumcised penis, which is consistent with other artworks of the time, but conflicts with Jewish law.13 Many consider Michelangelo’s David as the ideal male form, combining human uncertainty and cleverness with heroic strength and power.
When viewed close up as a gallery piece, David looks odd with its head and upper body out of proportion. This contradicts the Renaissance obsession with perfect proportion and form. It is argued that Michelangelo carved these proportions expecting the statue to be displayed and viewed from a distance, as a buttress for the cathedral.14 The leftover block of marble from the mountains of Carrara, Italy was a very unforgiving medium, however Michelangelo showed amazing technical skill in crafting the details of veins and curls of hair.15 Quite impressive is the fact that the great artist sculpted his piece with incredible accuracy; Michelangelo planned his work around the hole carved by a previous artist, even leaving some of the other sculptor’s marks on its surface.16
Giorgo Vasari claimed that Michelangelo completed the statue in eighteen months, however The David was unveiled on September 8, 1504, just three years after the work started.17 A group of artistic peers comprised of Leonardo da Vinci, Piero di Cosimo, Filippino Lippi, Sandro Botticelli and Perugino, convened to debate the placement of David.18 Imperfections in the marble due to improper storage caused the group to abandon the idea of using David as a cathedral buttress; instead it was placed under the roof of the Loggia dei Lanzi, in front of Florence’s town hall at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio.19 In 1872, David was moved to the Accademia Museum for better protection, and a few years later, a copy installed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.20 Moving the huge statue from Michelangelo’s workshop was no easy feat. It involved building a wooden framework and hanging the statue from it with thick ropes. This allowed the David to sway back and forth, absorbing the vibrations without cracking during transport. The statue was then pulled on iron rollers across a path of wooden planks.21
In 1527 the David was damaged when someone threw a bench out of a palace window, and broke the left arm. Vasari restored the statue, but the joints are visible.22 The David was again damaged in 1991 when a man attacked the toes of the left foot with a hammer.23
1 100swallows, “The Best Artists-Michelangelo’s David,” The WordPress.com Blog. January 6, 2009.
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/michelangelos-david/
2 Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren, Art History (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011), 642.
3 “The History of Michelangelo’s David,” eHow.com, accessed September 17, 2011.
http://www.ehow.com/print/about_5398290_history-michelangelos-david.html.
4 IBID
5 IBID
6 “Michelangelo’s David-Everything on Michelangelo’s David,” Spiritus-Temporis.com, accessed September 17, 2011.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/michelangelo-s-david/
7 IBID
8 Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren, Art History (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2011), 642.
9 100swallows, “The Best Artists-Michelangelo’s David,” The WordPress.com Blog. January 6, 2009.
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/michelangelos-david/
10 “Michelangelo’s David-Everything on Michelangelo’s David,” Spiritus-Temporis.com, accessed September 17, 2011.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/michelangelo-s-david/
11 Ludwig Goldscheider, Michelangelo (London: Phaidon Press LTD, 1964), 10.
12 Studio of the South Blog. “Michelangelo Gallery, David,” 2011.
http://www.michelangelo-gallery.com/david.aspx
13 “The History of Michelangelo’s David,” eHow.com, accessed September 17, 2011.
http://www.ehow.com/print/about_5398290_history-michelangelos-david.html.
14 Studio of the South Blog. “Michelangelo Gallery, David,” 2011.
http://www.michelangelo-gallery.com/david.aspx
15 Ludwig Goldscheider, Michelangelo (London: Phaidon Press LTD, 1964), 10.
16 100swallows, “The Best Artists-Michelangelo’s David,” The WordPress.com Blog. January 6, 2009.
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/michelangelos-david/
17 IBID
18 Ludwig Goldscheider, Michelangelo (London: Phaidon Press LTD, 1964), 10.
19 100swallows, “The Best Artists-Michelangelo’s David,” The WordPress.com Blog. January 6, 2009.
http://100swallows.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/michelangelos-david/
20 IBID
21 IBID
22 IBID
23 “Michelangelo’s David-Everything on Michelangelo’s David,” Spiritus-Temporis.com, accessed September 17, 2011.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/michelangelo-s-david/
24 G.B. Rose, “The Art of the Italian Renaissance,” The Sewanee Review, Vol. 6, No.2 (Apr., 1898): 142.
