The basis of ravage is in
the artwork that is shown at locale, the Museum. This
is where the history of our World has disgraced our integrity in such manners
that the obvious has been hidden in plain sight for all Mankind to see such
terraces at their leisure. Pine among
these portions and the oats of bells and whistles will indeed brave your mind
and enter your brain as your legs may collapse. Prepare yourself for the
inevitable as the Times in Ages, the Renaissance; this is Florence in lathe as
the shingle is but a roof for the ceiling that was made to tile the floors that
you must stand to not harbor, for the pier is merely called in as the paint by
number.
Discussion of rape under
the age of verbiage is left to the Artist by expression through the mold
itself. Self-acknowledgement grabs at
the waste of forced as the chisel, pencil and/or paints scribe in strokes to
the anchor of its realm. The age of two
years old graces our human lives and for the words that are not in our language
our compass holds to the height of which will deliver in full bore rest to
stand the still shot as the picture is the plot. With small fortune humanity has drooled over
the Statue of David and the glaring eyes of his warn, perhaps today a template
of modern day logic will create no problem as the fixture of the Statue of
David is it’s light, Occam’s razor.
The Statue of David a
well-recorded bit of history has forlorn Man to brace the mind and also to
describe the offense at the age of regard.
A pitched view of sodomy to that giant of a boy would have delivered the
Statue of David in marble at the size of what would have been the view of Michelangelo himself, flat on his back. This formal scribe at the study would have
suppressed the reality to live, as a victim often translates the flight as a
bird and the fright as the freeze as seen in the adult burst of brilliance to say "set in stone". To paint, to sculpt, to draw, to even
consider playing an instrument of choice as in the unexplained prodigy is again
in description of times with no words.
These are the honest horrors
of my own life as the recognition of what has happened in my life has been left
to dismiss by a curtsy. The “life goes
on” is a common fountain of a penned response and as such I chose to say that
life is a bit of a shock and now as the tourist goes to a museum instead of
staring and staring at the bizarre you may consider the facts, descriptions are
described bringing dust to dust, ashes to ashes to the modern paints to drawn
via the moldings and the frames.
May 28, 1998 - THE MAJOR PROBLEM IN RESEARCHING gay history is the virtual ... During the Renaissance, Florence developed a reputation for being ...
by NJ Hajek - 2015 - Cited by 1 - Related articles
Hajek, Nicolaus J. (2015) "Still a Rivalry: Contrasting Renaissance Sodomy ... major cities established specialized ministries for tackling the issue: among them,
Oct 3, 2016 - Sodomy was so pervasive in Renaissance Florence. ... To deal with this “problem
David (Michelangelo)
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David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft)[a] marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence.[1]
David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.
| David | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Michelangelo |
| Year | 1501–1504 |
| Medium | Marble sculpture |
| Subject | Biblical David |
| Dimensions | 517 cm × 199 cm (17 ft × 6.5 ft) |
| Location | Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy |
David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.
3D model
Contents
History
Commission
David, modelling of the marble.
Rossellino's contract was terminated soon thereafter, and the block of marble remained neglected for 26 years, all the while exposed to the elements in the yard of the cathedral workshop. This was of great concern to the Opera authorities, as such a large piece of marble not only was costly but represented a large amount of labour and difficulty 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."[6] 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 Michelangelo, only 26 years old, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission. On 16 August 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to undertake this challenging new task.[7] He began carving the statue early in the morning on 13 September, a month after he was awarded the contract. He would work on the massive statue for more than two years.
Placement
A replica of David now stands outside the Palazzo Vecchio.
Later history
David Galleria dell'Accademia.
In 1991, a mentally disturbed artist named Piero Cannata attacked the statue with a hammer he had concealed beneath his jacket;[13] in the process of damaging the toes of the left foot, he was restrained.[14]
On 12 November 2010, a fiberglass replica[15] of the David was installed on the roofline of Florence Cathedral, for one day only. Photographs of the installation reveal the statue the way the Operai who commissioned the work originally expected it to be seen.
In 2010, a dispute over the ownership of David arose when, based on a legal review of historical documents, the municipality of Florence claimed ownership of the statue in opposition to the Italian Culture Ministry, which disputes the municipality claim.[16][17]
In the mid 1800s, small cracks were noticed on the left leg on David which can possibly be attributed to an uneven sinking of the ground under the massive statue.[18]
David's eyes look towards Rome.
Interpretation
 |
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Close-up of David.
The statue appears to show David after he has made the decision to fight Goliath but before the battle has actually taken place, a moment between conscious choice and action. His brow is drawn, his neck tense and the veins bulge out of his lowered right hand. His left hand holds a sling that is draped over his shoulder and down to his right hand, which holds a rock.[22] The twist of his body effectively conveys to the viewer the feeling that he is in motion, an impression heightened with contrapposto. The statue is a Renaissance interpretation of a common ancient Greek theme of the standing heroic male nude. In the High Renaissance, contrapposto poses were thought of as a distinctive feature of antique sculpture. This is typified in David, as the figure stands with one leg holding its full weight and the other leg forward. This classic pose causes the figure's hips and shoulders to rest at opposing angles, giving a slight s-curve to the entire torso. The contrapposto is emphasised by the turn of the head to the left, and by the contrasting positions of the arms.
Michelangelo's David has become one of the most recognized works of Renaissance sculpture, a symbol of strength and youthful beauty.
David's right hand.
The proportions of the David are atypical of Michelangelo's work; the figure has an unusually large head and hands (particularly apparent in the right hand). The small size of the genitals, though, is in line with his other works and with Renaissance conventions in general, perhaps referencing the ancient Greek ideal of pre-pubescent male nudity. These enlargements may be due to the fact that the statue was originally intended to be placed on the cathedral roofline, where the important parts of the sculpture may have been accentuated in order to be visible from below. The statue is unusually slender (front to back) in comparison to its height, which may be a result of the work done on the block before Michelangelo began carving it.
It is possible that the David was conceived as a political statue before Michelangelo began to work on it.[24] Certainly David the giant-killer had long been seen as a political figure in Florence, and images of the Biblical hero already carried political implications there.[25] Donatello's bronze David, made for the Medici family, perhaps c. 1440, had been appropriated by the Signoria in 1494, when the Medici were exiled from Florence, and the statue was installed in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria, where it stood for the Republican government of the city. By placing Michelangelo's statue in the same general location, the Florentine authorities ensured that David would be seen as a political parallel as well as an artistic response to that earlier work. These political overtones led to the statue being attacked twice in its early days. Protesters pelted it with stones the year it debuted, and, in 1527, an anti-Medici riot resulted in its left arm being broken into three pieces.
Commentators have noted the presence of foreskin on David's penis, which is at odds with the Judaic practice of circumcision, but is consistent with the conventions of Renaissance art.[26][27]
Conservation
During World War II, David was entombed in brick to protect it from damage from airborne bombs.
Detail
of David's damaged left foot, caused by exposure to the elements and in
1991 when a deranged man hit it with a concealed hammer.
In 2008, plans were proposed to insulate the statue from the vibration of tourists' footsteps at Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia, to prevent damage to the marble.[29]
Replicas
Approximate heights of various notable statues:
1. Statue of Unity 240 m (incl. 58 m base)
2. Spring Temple Buddha 153 m (incl. 25 m pedestal and 20 m throne)
3. Statue of Liberty 93 m (incl. 47 m pedestal)
4. The Motherland Calls 87 m (incl. 2 m pedestal)
5. Christ the Redeemer 38 m (incl. 8 m pedestal)
6. Statue of David 5.17 m (excl. 2.5m plinth)
1. Statue of Unity 240 m (incl. 58 m base)
2. Spring Temple Buddha 153 m (incl. 25 m pedestal and 20 m throne)
3. Statue of Liberty 93 m (incl. 47 m pedestal)
4. The Motherland Calls 87 m (incl. 2 m pedestal)
5. Christ the Redeemer 38 m (incl. 8 m pedestal)
6. Statue of David 5.17 m (excl. 2.5m plinth)
David has often been reproduced,[31] in plaster and imitation marble fibreglass, signifying an attempt to lend an atmosphere of culture even in some unlikely settings such as beach resorts, gambling casinos and model railroads.[32]
See also
References
- Notes
- The height of the David was recorded incorrectly and the mistake proliferated through many art history publications. The accurate height was only determined in 1998–99 when a team from Stanford University went to Florence to try out a project on digitally imaging large 3D objects by photographing sculptures by Michelangelo and found that the sculpture was taller than any of the sources had indicated. See [1] and [2].
- Citations
- That "typical examples of kitsch include fridge magnets showing Michelangelo’s David." is reported even in the British Medical Journal (J Launer, "Medical kitsch", BMJ, 2000)
Bibliography
 | |
 Michelangelo's David, Smarthistory[1] |
- Coonin, A. Victor, From Marble to Flesh: The Biography of Michelangelo’s David, Florence: The Florentine Press, 2014. ISBN 9788897696025.
- Goffen, Rona (2002). Renaissance Rivals: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian. Yale University Press.
- Hall, James, Michelangelo and the Reinvention of the Human Body New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
- Hartt, Frederick, Michelangelo: the complete sculpture, New York: Abrams Books,1982.
- Hibbard, Howard. Michelangelo, New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
- Hirst Michael, “Michelangelo In Florence: David In 1503 and Hercules In 1506,” The Burlington Magazine, 142 (2000): 487–492.
- Hughes, Anthony, Michelangelo, London: Phaidon Press, 1997.
- Levine, Saul, "The Location of Michelangelo's David: The Meeting of January 25, 1504", The Art Bulletin, 56 (1974): 31–49.
- Natali, Antonio; Michelangelo (2014). Michelangelo Inside and Outside the Uffizi. Florence: Maschietto. ISBN 978-88-6394-085-5.
- Pope-Hennessy, John, Italian High Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture. London: Phaidon, 1996.
- Seymour, Charles, Jr. Michelangelo's David: a search for identity (Mellon Studies in the Humanities), Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1967.
- Vasari, Giorgio, The Lives of the Artists (Penguin Books), “Life of Michelangelo”, pp. 325–442.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michelangelo's David. |
- Michelangelo Buonarroti: David, Art and the Bible
- The Digital Michelangelo Project, Stanford University
- Models of wax and clay used by Michelangelo in making his sculpture and paintings
- The Museums of Florence – The David of Michelangelo
- "Michelangelo's David". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
Categories:
- 16th-century sculptures
- Collections of the Galleria dell'Accademia
- Culture in Florence
- Marble sculptures in Italy
- Outdoor sculptures in Florence
- Monuments and memorials in Florence
- Sculptures by Michelangelo
- Sculptures depicting David
- Vandalized works of art
- Tourist attractions in Florence
- Colossal statues
- Nude sculptures
Languages
'
David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero David by the Italian early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. They consist of an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408–09), and a far more famous bronze figure that is nude between its helmet and boots, and dates to the 1430s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.
Donatello, then in his early twenties, was commissioned to carve a statue of David in 1408, to top one of the buttresses of Florence Cathedral, though it was never to be placed there. Nanni di Banco was commissioned to carve a marble statue of Isaiah,
at the same scale, in the same year. One of the statues was lifted
into place in 1409, but was found to be too small to be easily visible
from the ground and was taken down; both statues then languished in the
workshop of the opera for several years.[2][3][4] In 1416, the Signoria of Florence commanded that the David be sent to their Palazzo della Signoria;
evidently the young David was seen as an effective political symbol, as
well as a religious hero. Donatello was asked to make some adjustments
to the statue (perhaps to make him look less like a prophet), and a
pedestal with an inscription was made for it: PRO PATRIA FORTITER
DIMICANTIBUS ETIAM ADVERSUS TERRIBILISSIMOS HOSTES DII PRAESTANT
AUXILIUM ("To those who fight bravely for the fatherland the gods lend
aid even against the most terrible foes").[5]
The marble David is Donatello's earliest known important commission, and it is a work closely tied to tradition, giving few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical contrapposto, the figure stands in an elegant Gothic sway that surely derives from Lorenzo Ghiberti. The face is curiously blank (curiously, that is, if one expects naturalism, but very typical of the Gothic style), and David seems almost unaware of the head of his vanquished foe that rests between his feet. Some scholars have seen an element of personality – a kind of cockiness -(contrapposto=relaxed stance, shifted weight) suggested by the twist of the torso and the akimbo placement of the left arm,[6][7] but overall the effect of the figure is rather bland. However it was intended to be gilded and painted, set on a pedestal with mosaic, and also seen from a considerable distance below. Donatello distorted the proportions of the figure to allow for this angle of view. The head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the young sculptor’s genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".[8]
The creation of the work is entirely undocumented, and it has been
given a range of datings. According to one theory, it was commissioned
by the Medici family
in the 1430s to be placed in the centre of the courtyard of the old
Medici Palace. Alternatively it may have been for that position in the
new Palazzo Medici Riccardi,
where it certainly was placed later, which would place the commission
in the mid-1440s or even later. The statue is recorded there by Vasari
and other sources. The Medici family were exiled from Florence in 1494,
and the statue was moved to the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria (the marble David was already in the palazzo). It was moved to the Palazzo Pitti in the 17th century, to the Uffizi in 1777, and then finally, in 1865, to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, where it remains today.[9][10][11][12]
According to Vasari, the statue stood on a column designed by Desiderio da Settignano in the middle of the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici; an inscription seems to have explained the statue's significance as a political monument. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite..., ed. G. Milanesi, Florence, 1878–1885, III, 108. A quattrocento manuscript containing the text of the inscription is probably an earlier reference to the statue; unfortunately the manuscript is not dated. Although a political meaning for the statue is widely accepted, exactly what that meaning is has been a matter of considerable debate among scholars.[13]
Most scholars assume the statue was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, but the date of its creation is unknown and widely disputed; suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s (Donatello died in 1466), with the majority opinion recently falling in the 1440s, when the new Medici Palace designed by Michelozzo was under construction.[14] The iconography of the bronze David follows that of the marble David: a young hero stands with sword in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, a favorite of Hadrian renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique contrasted with the absurdly large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God. However, the intention of Donatello is still debated among scholars. The boy's nakedness further implies the idea of the presence of God, contrasting the youth with the heavily-armored giant. David is presented uncircumcised, which is generally customary for male nudes in Italian Renaissance art.[15]
There are no indications of contemporary responses to the David.
However, the fact that the statue was not placed in the town hall of
Florence in the 1490s indicates that it was viewed as controversial. In
the early 16th century, the Herald of the Signoria
mentioned the sculpture in a way that suggested there was something
unsettling about it: "The David in the courtyard is not a perfect figure
because its right leg is tasteless."[16] By mid-century Vasari
was describing the statue as so naturalistic that it must have been
made from life. However, among 20th- and 21st-century art historians
there has been considerable controversy about how to interpret it.
The beard on the severed head curls around David's sandaled foot. Goliath is wearing a winged helmet. David's right foot stands firmly on the short right wing, while the left wing, considerably longer, works its way up his right leg to his groin.
The figure has been interpreted in a variety of ways. One has been to suggest that Donatello was homosexual and that he was expressing that sexual attitude through this statue.[17][18] A second is to suggest that the work refers to homosocial values in Florentine society without expressing Donatello's personal tendencies.[19][20] However, during the time of the Renaissance, when the statue was created, sodomy was illegal, and over 14,000 people had been tried in Florence for this crime.[21] So this homosexual implication was very risky and dangerous. A third interpretation is that David represents Donatello's effort to create a unique version of the male nude, to exercise artistic license rather than copy the classical models that had thus far been the sources for the depiction of the male nude in Renaissance art.[22]
The traditional identification of the figure was first questioned in
1939 by Jeno Lanyi, with an interpretation leaning toward ancient
mythology, the hero's helmet especially suggesting Hermes. A number of scholars over the last 70 years have followed Lanyi, sometimes referring to the statue as David-Mercury.[23] If the figure were indeed meant to represent Mercury, it may be supposed that he stands atop the head of the vanquished giant Argus Panoptes. However, this identification is certainly mistaken; all quattrocento references to the statue firmly identify it as David.[24]
David continued to be a subject of great interest for Italian patrons and artists. Later representations of the Biblical hero include Antonio del Pollaiuolo's David (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, c. 1470, panel painting), Verrocchio's David (Florence, Bargello, 1470s, bronze), Domenico Ghirlandaio's David (Florence, S. Maria Novella, c. 1485, fresco), Bartolomeo Bellano's David (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1470s, bronze), Michelangelo's David (Florence, Accademia, 1501-1504, marble), and Bernini's David, (Rome, Galleria Borghese, 1623–24, marble).
Frontain, Raymond-Jean and Wojcik, Jan eds. (1980) The David Myth in Western Literature, Purdue University Press, ISBN 0911198555.
Janson, pp. 3–7
Pope-Hennessey, John (1958) Italian Renaissance Sculpture, London, pp. 6–7
Poeschke, p. 27.
Documents on the statue may be found in Omaggio a Donatello,
pp. 126–127. On the political implications of David for early-modern
Florence, see Andrew Butterfield, ”New Evidence for the Iconography of
David in Quattrocento Florence,” I Tatti Studies 6 (1995) 114–133.
Poeschke, p. 377.
Omaggio a Donatello, p. 125
Grove
Janson, pp. 77–78
Poeschke, p. 397.
Omaggio a Donatello, pp. 196–197
Randolph, Adrian W.B. (2002) Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence, New Haven, pp. 139–141, ISBN 0300092121. Randolph published a poem from 1466 that seems to describe the statue in the Medici palace.
Political readings of the David include Sperling, Christine M. (1992). "Donatello's Bronze 'David' and the Demands of Medici Politics" (PDF). The Burlington Magazine. 134: 218–219. JSTOR 885118.[permanent dead link]
Crum, Roger J. (1996). "Donatello's Bronze David and the Question of Foreign versus Domestic Tyranny". Renaissance Studies. 10 (4): 440–450. doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.1996.tb00364.x.
McHam, Sarah Blake (2001). "Donatello's Bronze David and Judith as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence". Art Bulletin. 83: 32–47. doi:10.2307/3177189. JSTOR 3177189.
Terry, Allie (2009). "Donatello's decapitations and the rhetoric of beheading in Medicean Florence". Renaissance Studies. 23 (5): 609–638. doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00593.x.
Greenhalgh, M. (1982) Donatello and His Sources, London, p. 166.
Steinberg, Leo (1982). "Michelangelo and the Doctors". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 56: 552–553.
Gaye, G. (1840) Carteggio inedito d'artisti dei secoli xiv.xv.xvi.,
3 vols., Florence, II: 456: "El Davit della corte è una figura et non è
perfecta, perchè la gamba sua di drieto è schiocha." Cited in
Shearman, John (1992) Only Connect...Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 22 n. 17. Shearman notes that schiocha could be translated as "imprudent" or "stupid."
Janson, pp. 77–86
Schneider, Laurie (1973). "Donatello's Bronze David". The Art Bulletin. 55 (2): 213–216. doi:10.2307/3049095. JSTOR 3049095.
Randolph, Adrian W.B. (2002) Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence, New Haven, pp. 139–192, ISBN 0300092121.
Frontain, Raymond-Jean. "The Fortune in David's Eyes". GLRW. Archived from the original on 2009-03-19. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
PBS documentary "The Medici", 2003
Poeschke, p. 398.
Lanyi never published his hypothesis; his ideas were made public in John Pope-Hennessey (1984) “Donatello’s Bronze David," Scritti di storia dell’arte in onore di Federico Zeri Milan: Electa, pp. 122–127, and further developed in Paroncchi, Alessandro (1980) Donatello e il potere, Florence, pp. 101–115 and Fossi, G. et al. (2000) Italian Art, Florence, p. 91.
Shearman, John (1992) Only Connect...Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 20–21, ISBN 9780691099729.
Il Restauro del David di Donatello. Museo Nazionale del Bargello. polomuseale.firenze.it (in Italian)
Michelangelo - Brutus 1539 - ... The museum stores however many other treasures: fine works of art enriched by the Carrand, Ressman and Franchetti collections ... Donatello Saint George - 1417. Coming from the Church of Orsanmichele
Nov 15, 2017 - The Bargello should be on any art lover's list of museums to visit in ... Those two rooms (Michelangelo and Donatello) contain most of the really ...
David (Donatello)
Donatello, the bronze David (1440s?)
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
h.158 cm
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
h.158 cm
3-D model of the bronze statue (click to rotate)
Contents
The biblical text
The story of David and Goliath comes from 1 Samuel 17. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines, whose best warrior – Goliath – repeatedly offers to meet the Israelites' best warrior in man-to-man combat to decide the whole battle. None of the trained Israelite soldiers is brave enough to fight the giant Goliath, until David – a shepherd boy who is too young to be a soldier – accepts the challenge. Saul, the Israelite leader, offers David armor and weapons, but the boy is untrained and refuses them. Instead, he goes out with his sling, and confronts the enemy. He hits Goliath in the head with a stone, knocking the giant down, and then grabs Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines withdraw as agreed and the Israelites are saved. David's special strength comes from God, and the story illustrates the triumph of good over evil.[1]The marble David
The first version of David (1408–1409). Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Height 191 cm.
The marble David is Donatello's earliest known important commission, and it is a work closely tied to tradition, giving few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical contrapposto, the figure stands in an elegant Gothic sway that surely derives from Lorenzo Ghiberti. The face is curiously blank (curiously, that is, if one expects naturalism, but very typical of the Gothic style), and David seems almost unaware of the head of his vanquished foe that rests between his feet. Some scholars have seen an element of personality – a kind of cockiness -(contrapposto=relaxed stance, shifted weight) suggested by the twist of the torso and the akimbo placement of the left arm,[6][7] but overall the effect of the figure is rather bland. However it was intended to be gilded and painted, set on a pedestal with mosaic, and also seen from a considerable distance below. Donatello distorted the proportions of the figure to allow for this angle of view. The head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the young sculptor’s genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".[8]
The bronze David
Donatello's bronze statue of David (circa 1440s) is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, bearing the sword of Goliath.
Left side of Donatello's David.
According to Vasari, the statue stood on a column designed by Desiderio da Settignano in the middle of the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici; an inscription seems to have explained the statue's significance as a political monument. Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite..., ed. G. Milanesi, Florence, 1878–1885, III, 108. A quattrocento manuscript containing the text of the inscription is probably an earlier reference to the statue; unfortunately the manuscript is not dated. Although a political meaning for the statue is widely accepted, exactly what that meaning is has been a matter of considerable debate among scholars.[13]
Most scholars assume the statue was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, but the date of its creation is unknown and widely disputed; suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s (Donatello died in 1466), with the majority opinion recently falling in the 1440s, when the new Medici Palace designed by Michelozzo was under construction.[14] The iconography of the bronze David follows that of the marble David: a young hero stands with sword in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, a favorite of Hadrian renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique contrasted with the absurdly large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God. However, the intention of Donatello is still debated among scholars. The boy's nakedness further implies the idea of the presence of God, contrasting the youth with the heavily-armored giant. David is presented uncircumcised, which is generally customary for male nudes in Italian Renaissance art.[15]
Controversy
Back view of the legs of the David in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence.
The beard on the severed head curls around David's sandaled foot. Goliath is wearing a winged helmet. David's right foot stands firmly on the short right wing, while the left wing, considerably longer, works its way up his right leg to his groin.
The figure has been interpreted in a variety of ways. One has been to suggest that Donatello was homosexual and that he was expressing that sexual attitude through this statue.[17][18] A second is to suggest that the work refers to homosocial values in Florentine society without expressing Donatello's personal tendencies.[19][20] However, during the time of the Renaissance, when the statue was created, sodomy was illegal, and over 14,000 people had been tried in Florence for this crime.[21] So this homosexual implication was very risky and dangerous. A third interpretation is that David represents Donatello's effort to create a unique version of the male nude, to exercise artistic license rather than copy the classical models that had thus far been the sources for the depiction of the male nude in Renaissance art.[22]
Change in identification
Detail of the base
Restoration
The statue underwent restoration from June 2007 to November 2008. This was the first time the statue had ever been restored, but concerns about layers of "mineralized waxings" on the surface of the bronze led to the 18-month intervention. The statue was scraped with scalpels (on the non-gilded areas) and lasered (on the gilded areas) to remove surface build-up.[25]Copies and influence
There is a full-size plaster cast (with a broken sword) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. There is also a full-size white marble copy in the Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, a few miles outside central London. In addition to the copies in the United Kingdom, there is also another copy at the Slater Museum at the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, United States.[26]David continued to be a subject of great interest for Italian patrons and artists. Later representations of the Biblical hero include Antonio del Pollaiuolo's David (Berlin, Staatliche Museen, c. 1470, panel painting), Verrocchio's David (Florence, Bargello, 1470s, bronze), Domenico Ghirlandaio's David (Florence, S. Maria Novella, c. 1485, fresco), Bartolomeo Bellano's David (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1470s, bronze), Michelangelo's David (Florence, Accademia, 1501-1504, marble), and Bernini's David, (Rome, Galleria Borghese, 1623–24, marble).
See also
Notes and references
- Shana Sureck (July 14, 2002). "Dusting". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
Bibliography
- "Grove", Charles Avery and Sarah Blake McHam. "Donatello." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed June 16, 2015, subscription required
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| Donatello's David, Smarthistory |
- Janson, H.W. (1957). The Sculpture of Donatello. Princeton. ISBN 0691003173.
- Museo Nazionale del Bargello (1985). Omaggio a Donatello, 1386–1986 (in Italian). S.P.E.S.--Studio per Edizioni Scelte.
- Poeschke, Joachim (1990). Donatello and his World: Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. New York. ISBN 0810932113.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Donatello's David. |
- Analysis, theme and critical reception
- Discussion and many detailed photos
- Two more angles
- Site with numerous image links
- White marble copy at Kew (part of a set on Flickr)
Languages
Crum, Roger J. (1996). "Donatello's Bronze David and the Question of Foreign versus Domestic Tyranny". Renaissance Studies. 10 (4): 440–450. doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.1996.tb00364.x.
McHam, Sarah Blake (2001). "Donatello's Bronze David and Judith as Metaphors of Medici Rule in Florence". Art Bulletin. 83: 32–47. doi:10.2307/3177189. JSTOR 3177189.
Terry, Allie (2009). "Donatello's decapitations and the rhetoric of beheading in Medicean Florence". Renaissance Studies. 23 (5): 609–638. doi:10.1111/j.1477-4658.2009.00593.x.
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