“David”
“David” is the iconic marble statue created between 1501 and 1504 by the immensely brilliant and eccentric Italian Renaissance master, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
Michelangelo was commissioned to create this piece by the Overseers of the Office of Works (the Operai) of Florence when he was just 26 years old. At that time, Florence was a city-state and was one of the wealthiest and culturally important economic capitals in Europe.
“David” was commissioned by the Operai, along with a series of other biblical figures and prophets, to line a rooftop in Florence. However, upon completion, the 17-foot tall, 6-ton statue was much too large and heavy to be able to move to the top of a roof, so it was placed as a standalone artwork in the public square by the government offices, the Palazzo della Signoria, in Florence, Italy.
In 1873, for preservation purposes, “David” was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia and a replica of the statue was placed outside in the square. In 1991, the statue was attacked by a hammer-wielding man who damaged David’s left foot.
In this piece, Michelangelo depicted David as a youth in the contrapposto pose, a Classical Greek pose that was revitalized during the Renaissance in which the subject is standing with most of their weight on one foot with their upper body slightly twisted and bent to appear more relaxed. He is looking to the left and carrying his sling over his back. The hands and head of David are slightly proportionally larger when compared to the rest of his body. This was done purposefully as Michelangelo wanted certain features of the subject to stand out and be visible to the public below when placed in its intended location along the roofline.
King David, as he would later be known, came to notoriety after defeating the Philistine giant, Goliath, in single combat. He would later reign over Judah and Israel. David’s story was written in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Historians tend to agree that he likely lived around 1,000 B.C.E. David was one of the favorite heroes in Florence during the Renaissance and was often depicted in art created at that time to be placed in significant locations within the city.
“David” is currently on display at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy.
For more on Michelangelo, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
