The "Marblous" David

 

We have survived the holidays and now I must continue writing about our adventures in Italy and then the Mediterranean cruise we took after travelling through Italy. The last entry was about our trek to the top of the Duomo in Florence. Today, I want to focus on Michelangelo's statue of David that stands in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy. I was going to just post the pictures I took, but decided to do a little research, too. I am glad that I did because I learned a lot.

One thing I learned was that Michelangelo was the fourth sculptor to work on the slab of marble. The creation began in 1464, when a huge, tall but narrow block of marble was shipped to Florence. The first three artists ceased to work on this giant slab of marble because it was full of imperfections, tiny holes and small veins. In 1500 the Operai (Overseers of the Office of Works) searched for another artist to complete this statue. Michelangelo was selected at the age of 26 and finished the statue of David at age 29.

As you can tell from the picture, David is quite tall, 17 feet high, about as tall as an adult giraffe. It was supposed to be on the roof of the Florence Cathedral. Due to the size and weight (six tons), it was decided to move the statue to Palazzo Vecchio until it was moved again, inside a building to keep it protected from the elements and people. It took four days and 40 men to move David from Michelangelo's workshop to the Piazza (about half a mile).

When I take pictures of statues I like to get close ups of various parts. Here are some of the close up pictures of David. I left one out. I am sure you can figure out which one. While I am writing about this area, I can mention that when Queen Victoria received a life sized replica of David, she ordered that a  plaster fig leaf be placed over the "private parts" to protect the fragile eyes of the the young English ladies.

If you look closely you can see that the eyes are not looking exactly the same direction.  I wouldn't have noticed it if it had not been brought to my attention. What amazed me was the furrow of the brows and the expression of the eyes. I could almost feel what David was feeling as he stood ready to face the Giant Goliath. It seems to be a mixture of determination, anticipation and fearful courage.

The next two pictures are of the hand holding the stone. I so much wanted to reach over and touch that hand. It looked so real. I could almost feel the next motion of getting the sling ready.

    This is the other side of the hand holding the stone. What amazing sculpting with so much energy. 

Even when the statue was  moved into Accademia Gallery, there were still security problems. Someone was able to get close enough and damage the the toes with a hammer that he had smuggled into the museum in 1991. Now David is protected with plexiglass. There is concern with damage caused by the vibrations of footsteps with so many visitors. One more concern is caused by earthquake tremors.

                     This is the other foot. It is much smoother compared to the damaged foot.

                                                            The back shows the sling.

                                The veins in the arm show the tension that David is feeling.

           You can see the color of the marble veins that some artists felt made the marble inferior.

                                       This gives a perspective to show the size of David.

                                      This is the dome of natural light looking over David.

If you do not want to travel to Florence, Italy (although, I would suggest you do), you can see a replica of David in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was first sent to the United States for the 1964 New York World's Fair. It is carved from one block of marble from the same quarry that the marble used for the original David.

Thanks, to Bruce Thompson for letting me use his camera to take these pictures. My camera was in our lost carry on baggage. I was so thankful that Bruce let me use his camera. His camera is the same one that I have, so I knew how to use it.