The other sculptors said it would be nothing because the marble was too poor of quality. Michelangelo though was able to create perfection out in the imperfect marble. He said that David was in there the whole time, but someone just needed to remove the pieces that were not supposed to be there. Thus releasing to the world with this magnificent statue.
When you first enter the gallery of Michelangelo your eyes immediately try to focus down the hall to where David is. On the sides you are surrounded by other statues that Michelangelo only partially carved. My eyes though were glued to David the whole time, and even from far away David cast a presence. When you walk closer to David you get the full appreciation of the details. First you see the hair, which consists of many curls that are naturally flowing. Then you look upon his face. From the front his face is gentle looking, but if you look at the right profile there is so much more determination and intent. Michelangelo made David’s eyes biconcave hearts to give them depth. You can see the focus and the fear on David's face as he would have been gazing at Goliath, in the final moments before he attacked. The intricate wrinkles and veins that are flexed in the neck gives you the feeling that you are at the climax moment of this very tense situation. When you look at David’s hands and feet you first see that they are quite large in comparison to the rest of his body. This is because David was suppose to be on the side of a cathedral and at a significant height above the observer. Two or three stories above the street his hands and feet would have appeared to be in proper proportion. In his right hand David grasps a stone, and the veins in his hands are tensed, because he is waiting for the opportune shot.
All the details that Michelangelo incorporated into David allows the viewer to feel like they are present at the height of the moment. Michelangelo was a master artisan and it is mind boggling to think about the way he was able to communicate different emotions through the different views and the way he was able to understand and sculpt proportionally based on the perspective of the viewer dictated by a future placement. These are some of the many details that make David a masterpiece.
-Brittany Pease
In Florence, Italy I went to the Galleria dell Accademia, which is a school for art, as well as the art gallery that happens to house one of the most famous marble statues in the world, the statue of David. The statue of David was crafted by Michelangelo. Michelangelo was a very talented artist who could not only do incredible sculptures but could also paint. He was a particular man who was not only concerned with the piece as a whole, but the details that contribute to the overall piece. Our tour guide shared with us that Michelangelo would spend time watching men in action working to observe how their muscle contracted in certain positions. He also would sneak out in secret and dissect dead bodies and make sketches from them to inform his work as an artist. These details are especially apparent in the Statue of David.
Michelangelo was so concerned with details that it took him three years just to complete the statue of David. When he first received this marble though he was not the first person to have worked on it. Two other sculptors before him tried to craft this marble, but just left it with a big gap at the bottom.
Marble Marvels
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