Comparing Donatello's David And Goliath

“David Slaying Goliath” by Peter Paul Rubens is an example of Renaissance art. This painting depicts a well-known Bible story of a young Israelite boy named David who kills the giant, Goliath, with a slingshot, and chops off his head with a sword. Rubens has chosen to illustrate this Bible story at the moment when David is about to hack off Goliath’s head with the giant’s sword. In addition, we see armor-clad soldiers rushing into battle in the background. In “David Slaying Goliath,” Peter Paul Rubens uses color, value, and line to illustrate the dynamism and energy within the painting that makes it look realistic. In addition, these elements contribute to the sense of excitement and anticipation of the event depicted.

After returning to Rome, Michelangelo heard about a sculpture that two other artists could not complete because of its difficulty. Because of his success with ‘‘La Pieta,’’ Michelangelo decides to take over the job. He created ‘‘David’’ in 1501 and four years later the sculpture was placed outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Michelangelo’s intention was to portray ‘‘David’’as the perfect and ideal man. Michelangelo took three years to sculpt this 17 feet sculpture, and ‘‘David’’ quickly became the pride of Florence.

The statue of David, completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is an easily recognizable symbol to people not only in Florence, but from all around the world. The David has a special meaning for Florentines, and is a symbol of what the city strives to be; strong, courageous, and youthful. The sculpture tells the tale of the battle between David and Goliath. David, a young boy at the time, was angered at the way Goliath was treating the Israelis and stood up to the giant feat of taking on Goliath. With a simple slingshot and stone, he defeated the angry giant, and became a symbol of liberty. The story shows that anything can be done with the help of God. David is not only the most well-known sculpture in the world, but is housed in one of the

The city of Florence has gone through many invaders, illnesses and many other deaths not related to the battlefield. They had survived it all they believed that they had God on their side and have always come out on top, much like the biblical story of David in battle against Goliath. This influenced Florence to take on David as their symbol and used it to portray the success of Florence. Many artists have created sculptures portraying works of David. It has been depicting it in so many different manners, that there is at least one surviving example from each major art periods. Although there are many we will only be focusing on two works of David. First is Donatello’s classically inspired youthful boy depiction of David, and the second is Bernini’s heroic warrior.

Claude Vignon’s work called David with the Head of Goliath, is an interpretation of the artist Caravaggio’s original masterpiece, which shows art’s familiar paradigm, every painter paints himself. His motivation for creating this piece was from visiting rome in 1610, he was influenced by Caravaggism, which was art inspired in the style of Caravaggio. “Some art historians regard him as a precursor of Rembrandt.” Painted circa 1620-1623, it is an oil on canvas, made in Paris, France, 133.7 cm x 98 cm (52 5/8 in. x 38 9/16 in.). “Vignon was a French painter, printmaker and illustrator, and, in 1623, was one of the most respected, productive, and successful artists in France, in which his patrons were king Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu.” He was born into a wealthy family and started art lessons when he was a young boy. A theme could be religious rebellion against others who were seen as powerful such as Goliath, and were not fit to be in power.

Unlike the David of Donatello, Michelangelo's David is not shown after conquering his enemy. Instead, he is portrayed as an extremely athletic and manly character; the sculpture even depicts a worried look cast upon David's face and the carved marble veins seem to pulse with anticipation as he contemplates the upcoming fight. Cast over David's shoulder is his sling, and the stone is clutched in his right hand. Michelangelo's David depicts the ideal youth who has just reached manhood and is capable of great physical and intellectual feats, which is part of the classical tradition. Michelangelo's David portrays one man in a very powerful and intelligent light, and even hinting that this one man may be some

Michelangelo’s creation is his interpretation of the biblical figure of David. “The brave David stands in a tense manner, with one leg relaxed while the other holds its total body weight. Hence, this causes his shoulders and hips to rest at an opposite angle. Moreover, David’s head turns towards his left, and he is carrying a sling at his back. With all these features, many people regard the sculpture as a symbol of youthful beauty and human strength (History).” “Michelangelo’s hero is at rest, in a moment of calm anticipation before confronting Goliath (Sayre, 327).” The lack of movement and straight posture shows balance and clarity within the sculpture, which is why most people would consider this piece of art work ethos. “In contrast, Bernini’s sculpture captures the young hero in the midst of action. David’s body twists in an elaborate spiral, creating dramatic contrasts of light and shadow. His teeth are clenched, and his muscles strain as he prepares to launch the fatal rock (Sayre, 327).” Bernini’s David uses the characteristic of emotion and motion to label his sculpture as pathos. “Bernini’s David uses the space around it – reaching out into the space of

The art piece created by Claude Vignon , “David with the Head of Goliath” has three important elements that are vital towards the piece in order to portray a message of power and authority. Which are the focal point, proportions, and the contrast of this particular piece. The artwork is oil on canvas that was made around in 1593-1670. The subject matter of the artwork is depicting the moment of pride David had with the head of the giant Goliath being laid next to his small body. The portrait of David is seen on the viewers middle left side, while the head of Goliath is in the middle right side next to David’s. David is seen wearing clothes that appear to be a size to big on him, to the point where the shirt is slipping from his shoulder (exposing his left shoulder). The clothes themselves are interpreted as royal clothing, having a big headpiece located in the top half of the painting. With the exposed shoulder being leaned forward on, in his left hand David holds a silver sword that is seen to to take

Bernini's David represents the Baroque time shift in art. The shift towards the baroque art period seemed to have a change within the overall narrative of the sculptures. Prior to Bernini’s version of David there existed David’s sculpted by Donatello and Michelangelo. Donatello’s David was sculpted during the time of humanism, where a large influence came from the ancient Greco-Roman culture. The overall emotion of the sculpture is soft and youthful and creates the image of David after he had beaten Goliath. There really is no distinct emotion within David himself in this sculpture. In the high renaissance period Michelangelo sculpted his version of David. This sculpture began to form some energy which was seen in David’s tensed facial expression,

The marble sculpture conveys an image of a man’s body which is almost like superman. In this way, his David suggests the ideal appearance of what a man should look like. After centuries of Church dominating in people’s lives, the Renaissance marked a return to the people’s values of their world. Interestingly, statue of David which was modeled by Michelangelo is the most famous statue in the whole world and perhaps an important tourist attraction site in Italy. Michelangelo was born on 6th march, 1475 in Caprese village in Italy. He also worked on the David's statue between 1501 and 1504 which stands at the height of 4.34m/14 ft 3. The statue is placed outside Palazzo Vecchio. It is currently viewed as a symbol of new republic which replaced Medici

Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, at Caprese, in Tuscany and died February 18th, 1564. The second sculpture is of Michelangelo?s David, 1501-1504. Its material is marble, it stands 13' 5" and is currently located at the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. Michelangelo's David is based on the artistic discipline of disegno. It is said that under this discipline, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because of how it mimics divine creation. Michelangelo worked under the premise that the image of David was already in the block of marble he was working on, in much the same way that the human soul is thought to be found within the physical body (Michelangelo's David). Unlike the David of Donatello, Michelangelo's David is not shown after conquering his enemy. Instead, he is portrayed as an extremely athletic and manly character; the sculpture even depicts a worried look cast upon David?s face and the carved marble veins seem to pulse with anticipation as he contemplates the upcoming fight. Cast over David?s shoulder is his sling, and the stone is

     Michelangelo was another artisan who portrayed David in a unique matter. He didn’t represent David standing over a defeated Goliath, but instead made him look like he was patiently awaiting his enemy. The body has a very classical form and is muscular and very tense. The form makes David look powerful. Michelangelo made David very strong with well defined features, iand even included enlarged hands to show the viewer of the strength that David had before attacking Goliath. Unlike other versions at the time, Michelangelo didn’t create a version of a prideful David, but instead a David who was amongst or aware of his enemy.

Because of the facial features portrayed on the face of the statue of David, it is suggested that Michelangelo sculpted David to portray him after his decision to fight Goliath was made but not before the actual battle took place. Michelangelo kept the Renaissance practice of keeping its subjects in a calm position, by depicting David’s action before the battle in his statue.

Michelangelo created a 17 foot statue, David (1504) that Bernini studied to make his own depiction of the scene. The most noticeable difference between the two is that Michelangelo’s sculpture is nude while Bernini’s is clothed to an extent. Bernini utilizes the contapposto technique in his story of David, a technique taken straight from Michelangelo. Bernini plays with the immediacy of the scene, something that he does frequently, by depicting the moment right before the climax hits, when David kills Goliath. The movement in the sculpture, the moment before the release of the rock from the sling engages with Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. Michelangelo decided to show David before he

His arms are slightly long for his body, and the muscles not as developed as those of a man. His waist is small, and the form of his ribs is sculpted enough to know that he is lacking muscle definition. His stomach seems to pop out a little bit, perhaps suggesting the "baby fat" that he has yet to work off. He has one hand resting limply on his hip, while his other rests on a sword handle. His hair is shoulder length and slightly untamed, while a hat rests slightly tilted atop his head. His head is tilted slightly downward, and a slight upward bend in his lip looks almost like a building smile. One leg is straight, supporting his weight, while the other is propped on the head of the slain Goliath. The bends of his limbs are very natural, and the attention to detail exemplifies Donatello’s understanding of human anatomy. A closer look at the sculpture, however, reveals the details that set it apart from other works of the master.