Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, Galleria dell’Accademia in florence

Source: Public domain

The sculpture of David is considered, next to the Vatican Pieta, the most famous work of Michelangelo. The statue, more than 5 meters high, was made of a single block of marble and initially stood in Piazza della Signiora in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. In 1873, the sculpture was moved to the Academy Gallery for conservation, and a copy was placed in the main square of Florence in the early 20th century. The figure of David is shown in a counterpoint with a slightly bent torso. The body of the biblical king is muscular and has numerous blood vessels are clearly visible. The artist’s goal was to show the beauty of the human body with all its perfection, but both the hands and the head, judging their size, are somewhat unreal. In all its dimensions, the sculpture of David referred to ancient patterns, and above all to the sculpture of Doryphorus by Polykleitos. While working on it, Michelangelo used the knowledge of the anatomy of the human body, which he had acquired through the dissections carried out several years earlier in the monastery at the Santo Spirito church in Florence.

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