Michelangelos David :: Arts Paintings Art History

Michelangelos DavidMichelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was a Florentine Sculptor,painter, poet, and architect. Based in Florence he started out aspainter at the age of thirteen, apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio,the leading fresco besiege painter in Florence. But eventually hisambitions led to sculpture. Michelangelo had an ideal found on thephysical expressiveness of the male nude.1Michelangelo sculpted in a representational style, its main characteristicbeing the depiction of subjects in a vivid manner. His sculptures,like David, often depict the mastery of anatomy this can be shown bythe structure of every muscle and sinew in the sculptures. For David,Michelangelo had interpreted up the theme Donatello and Andrea delVerrocchio had used successfully in their David sculpturesMichelangelos variance was from a political point of view.2David is the largest free standing marble statue since perfecttimes. The narrative derived about this sculpture speaks of theshepherd boy who de feated the ogre Goliath. Michelangelo hastransformed David into an ancient hero of unrivaled grace and beauty.Interestingly Davids sling is barely visible which may tell us his power is derived from his moral courage. The hands of David alsoare shown exceptionally large signifying a sense of power. David stoodas a symbol of Florences supremacy. 3David was constructed in 1501 but not completed until 1504, andtowered over the people at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. straightway itstands at the Galleria dell Accademia, Florence. This sculpture wasan influence to other sculptors of the Renaissance because of howMichelangelo pushed the boundaries and artistic ideals of hisgeneration to their physical and stylistic extremes.David is a large sculpture, measuring 13 5 high, and is a sculptureof marble. Michelangelos sculptures were often larger than life.4---------------------------------------------------------------------1 Alison Cole.