Amazing Art!

Amazing Sculpture! David by Michelangelo which stands in Florence. We found some facts to add to those we already have posted.

1. The colossal figure is 17 feet tall, equivalent to a 2-story building. It was carved into a huge marble block of Carrara.

2. The block that was cut was damaged. Two sculptors were tasked with the commission before Michelangelo took control, but neither could successfully work the poor quality stone provided.

3. David’s way explained the limitations of the stone. He is slim and his head is pointing to the side because the block was too narrow for him to look forward. Their contrasting position explained a hole that already existed in the marble between the legs.

4. Miguel Angel was only 26 when he started and 28 when he finished. He was already one of the best sculptors alive at the time, having completed the “Pietà” with total disbelief of Rome when he was 24 years old.

5. It was originally meant to sit on the ceiling line of Florence Cathedral. When completed, it was simply too beautiful, and big, to be hoisted up there, and instead displayed at the Palazzo della Signoria.

6. Modern studies have found that it is anatomically perfect, except for a small muscle missing in the back. Michelangelo, who studied anatomy scrupulously, knew this, later wrote that he was limited by a defect in the marble.

7. The jugular vein in David’s neck is bulging, appropriate for someone in a state of fear or excitement (as the young shepherd would have been). Miguel Angel obviously knew this was a feature of the circulatory system, but medical science didn’t document this discovery until 124 years later.

8. It was stylistically innovative. Previous interpretations of David, such as those of Donatello and Verrocchio, represented him victorious over the already murdered Goliath. Here, he is on the precipice of battle, his intense gaze and frowned forehead representing a contemplative moment.

9. David represents the idealized male form and proportion, a common theme in classic Greek sculpture. But Michelangelo’s work is much more naturalistic, rooted in anatomical understanding that far surpassed the Greeks. David is both a beautiful representation of the ideal, but surprisingly real, a defining achievement of the Italian Renaissance.

10. Today, about 1.5 million people visit David each year. It has lived in the Accademia Gallery in Florence for 150 years, since it was moved inside in 1873 to protect it from the elements.

As expected, David won the admiration of the great Renaissance artist and historian Giorgio Vasari:

“When everything was finished, it cannot be denied that this work has taken the palm of all other statues, modern or ancient, Greek or Latin; no other work of art is equal to it in any way, with such fair proportion, beauty and excellence was finished by Miguel Angel.”

Truly amazing! Michelangelo was truly amazing and his work proves him!