David
Factual Information:
From: Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy
Period: 1501 - 1504
Period: 1501 - 1504
General Information:
This artwork was sculpted by the famous Michelangelo. Michelangelo chose to depict David before his fight with goliath, rather than after his fight as was how he was normally depicted, like in the works of Verrocchio and Donatello. David is shown with his weight put on his back leg, which is rather normal for Renaissance sculpture at the time, with figures in a relaxed, recoiled position. He is in the classic contrapposto stance, a distinctive feature to give the sculpture life. The sling on his shoulder is thrown over casually, in a relaxed position, further given movement to the statue. The statue itself was likely intended for a political purpose for Florence at the time, who saw David as a form of symbolism for how they saw their city state, the young new person to conquer the big states.
Why This Artwork?
This artwork was chosen to show the form of sculpture of the High Renaissance. Sculpture of this period is once again, much like the Greek and Roman times, with this one being extremely exaggerated in the muscle tone and form of the statue, much like Hellenistic sculpture.