Michelangelos David :: Arts Paintings Art History

Michelangelos DavidMichelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was a Florentine Sculptor,painter, poet, and architect. Based in Florence he started come forth aspainter at the age of thirteen, apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio,the leading fresco wall painter in Florence. But eventually hisambitions led to form. Michelangelo had an high-minded based on thephysical expressiveness of the male nude.1Michelangelo sculpted in a Naturalistic style, its main characteristicbeing the depiction of subjects in a realistic manner. His sculptures,like David, often depict the mastery of anatomy this tooshie be shown bythe structure of every muscle and sinew in the sculptures. For David,Michelangelo had taken up the theme Donatello and Andrea delVerrocchio had used successfully in their David sculpturesMichelangelos version was from a political point of view.2David is the rotundst free standing marble statue since classicaltimes. The narrative derived about this sculpture speaks of theshepherd boy wh o defeated the giant Goliath. Michelangelo hastransformed David into an ancient hero of unrivaled grace and beauty.interestingly Davids sling is barely visible which may tell us hisstrength 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 enchant to the Palazzo Vecchio. Now 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 rhetorical 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.