Michelangelo's David? |
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Michelangelo's DavidMichelangelo's David, finished by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1504 (started in 1501) is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture and one of Michelangelo's two greatest works of sculpture, along with the Pietà. David portrays the Biblical David at the moment that he decides to engage Goliath. This 5.17 meter (17 ft) marble statue was commissioned as a symbol of the Florentine Republic. The completed sculpture was unveiled on September 8, 1504.
There are other statues of David; see the bottom of the article for details. Michelangelo's David is arguably the most famous among these, and is often referred to as "The David."
General History
Michelangelo's David is based on the artistic discipline of disegno, which is 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 — in much the same way as the human soul is thought to be found within the physical body. It is also an example of the contrapposto style of posing the human figure.
The proportions are not quite true to the human form; the head and upper body are somewhat larger than the proportions of the lower body. While some have suggested that this is of the mannerist style, the most commonly accepted explanation is that the statue was originally intended to be placed on a church façade or high pedestal, and that the proportions would appear correct when the statue was viewed from some distance below.
There is controversy, however, over the statue's supposed Biblical reference, since the statue portrays an uncircumcised male, whereas the historical King David was undoubtedly circumcised. Because of this fact, some art historians believe that "David" was actually the name of the model who posed for the statue, rather than King David himself, and that Michelangelo claimed the Biblical reference to make it acceptable to the Christian world. Again, this theory is merely speculation.
It has also been theorized that this was a conscientious decision, a consequence of Michelangelo's endeavor to emulate the ancient Greek aesthetic ideals, which regarded the circumcised penis as mutilated and inferior.
Detail of the DavidThe statue was originally placed in the Piazza della Signoria, just in front of the Palazzo della Signoria. To protect it from damage, in 1873 it was moved to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it attracts many visitors. A replica was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in 1910.
In 1991 a vandal attacked the statue with a hammer, damaging the toes of the left foot before being restrained. The samples obtained from that incident allowed scientists to determine that the marble used by Michelangelo was obtained from the Fantiscritti quarries in Miseglia, the central of three small valleys in Carrara. The block was quarried 40 years prior to carving of David. In that time period, two other sculptors, Agostino di Duccio and Antonio Rossellino, attempted to carve from it, but both abandoned their projects due to lack of experience and skill. The marble in question contains many microscopic holes that cause it to deteriorate faster than other marbles. It is believed that because the quality of the marble is rather mediocre, Michelangelo obtained the block for free. Because of the marble's degradation, a controversy occurred in 2003, with some experts opposing the use of water to clean the statue. This was the first major cleaning since 1843.
A replica of the statue was offered as a gift by the municipality of Florence to the municipality of Jerusalem to mark the 3,000th anniversary of David's conquest of the city. The proposed gift evoked a storm in Jerusalem, where religious factions urged the gift be declined, because the naked figure was considered pornographic. Finally, a compromise was reached and another, fully-clad replica of a different statue was donated in its stead.
There are many full-size replicas of the statue around the world, from a plaster cast copy in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, to the centrepiece of a shopping mall in Surfers Paradise, Australia. One resident of Los Angeles, California, has decorated his house and grounds with twenty-three reduced scale replicas of the statue. There is also a copy gracing the "Appian Way Shops" at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. A bronze casting from the original marble statue also stands in Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York.
The history of Michelangelo's David precedes his work on it from 1501a href="1504.html" title="1504">1504, as far back as 1464. At that time, the Overseers of the Office Works (Operai), comprised mostly of members of the influential Wool Guild, had plans to commission a series of twelve large Old Testament sculptures for the buttresses of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. So far only two had been created independently by Donatello and his assistant, Agostino di Duccio. Eager to continue their project, in 1464 they again contracted di Duccio to create a David. Agostino only got as far as beginning to shape the legs, feet and chest of the figure, roughing out some drapery and possible gouging a hole between the legs. His association with the project, for reasons unknown, ceased with the death of his master Donatello in 1466, and Antonio Rossellino was commissioned to take up where di Duccio had left off. Rossellino's contract was terminated soon thereafter, and the block of marble remained neglected for twenty-five years, all the while exposed to the elements in the yard of the cathedral workshop. This was of great concern to the Operai authorities, as such a large piece of marble was both costly, and involved a large amount of labor and danger in its transportation to Florence. In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as, "a certain figure of marble called David, badly blocked out and supine." A year later, documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this large piece of marble and turn it into a finished work of art. They ordered the block of stone, which they called The Giant, "raised on its feet" so that a master experienced in this kind of work might examine it and express an opinion. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was young Michelangelo, only 26 years old, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission. On August 16, 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to undertake this challenging new task. He would work on the massive biblical hero for a little more than 3 years.
Michelangelo's statue of David differs from previous representations of the subject in that David is depicted before his battle with Goliath and not after the giant's defeat (as it is in Donatello's 1 and Verrocchio's 2 versions, produced earlier). Instead of being shown victorious over a foe much larger than he, David looks tense and ready for combat. His veins bulge out of his lowered right hand and the twist of his body effectively conveys to the viewer the feeling that he is a spring ready to be sprung.
Compare this statue to prior statues of David by Donatello 3 and Verrocchio 4, and a subsequent dynamic baroque composition by Bernini 5.
Sources
- Kleiner, Fred S., and Christin J. Mamiya. Gardner's Art Through the Ages. 11th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College, 2001.
- Other Sources Unkown.