Research Paper On David Donatello

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

Starting in the 1400s during the Renaissance era., we can see how the Classical tradition of appreciating the human body and form carried over into Donatello’s sculpture of David.

Donatello’s bronze sculpture of David is not to be confused with the much larger and more widely known statue of the same name, done by Michelangelo. Donatello’s statue of David can be found in the Bargello museum in Florence, Italy. The statue only stands about five feet tall, which when compared to the seventeen foot sculpture by Michelangelo, is relatively small. The statue is made of bronze using the lost wax technique. It depicts David as having a very effeminate contrapposto stance, (the standing figure is posed so the weight rests on one leg, while the other leg is bent at the knee in a very relaxed position), despite standing upon Goliath’s severed head. One could almost view David as a girl, provided he was not nude, due to the soft looking expression on his face, and the way his hair flows. The floral arrangement upon his head is very distinct. The statue exudes epicenism, as David is clearly a soldier holding a sword and wearing boots standing upon his vanquished foe’s head.

During the Renaissance, Florence was seen as the most affluent and powerful city in Italy, and Europe at the time with politics, and art. Donatello produced one of the first free standing sculptures since the Renaissance. These sculptures were relief objects because before, Romans weren’t allowed to worship them because they were seen as heathens. One of his well known sculptures is of David, the boy who killed Goliath with his slingshot.

This piece created by michelangelo was sculpted in 1501 and is made out of marble. The location that was chosen was Accademia Gallery, in Florence, Italy. People think that this sculptor just represents David and Goliath, but there is more to it. The sculptor is not showing david while he is fighting, but mere seconds after victory. Before the Renaissance, if one did not have money, man was looked upon as only a worker. During the Renaissance, man was recreated as a beautiful, rational, and heroic figure. “David” signified a man at his best with the glory and confidence that a man needs to live life to the fullest. Life was hard for most men during this time and Michelangelo showed us that by expressing a deeper meaning in

Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy. Michelangelo was known to be one of the best artists during the renaissance. Michelangelo never was interested in school work. He was always amazed by the painters and artist that were around him. Thus, igniting the flame and desire of him becoming a painter, artist, poet and sculptor. At the age of sixteen Michelangelo sculpted two reliefs, Battle of the Centaurs and Madonna Seated on a Step. Two of Michelangelo’s famous works was the Pieta and David. David is meant to symbolize a young, courageous warrior with a bow and arrow ready to take down his enemy. Michelangelo mad David out of discarded stone, a fact which most people are not aware of. Some other works that Michelangelo did

The Medici family was the most powerful political family of Florence. They saw themselves as being the reason for Florence’s supremacy and wanted to used Florence’s symbol of David as their own. The Medici were aware of Donatello’s earlier sculpture of David in Florence’s town hall and commissioned Donatello to create them their own sculpture of David. Donatello’s bronze sculpture of David possesses both the relaxed contrapposto and the nude beauty of the Classical period and the style of the Greeks. He was the first Renaissance sculptor to portray nude male figure. “In the Middle Ages, the clergy regarded nude statues as both indecent and idolatrous, and nudity in general appeared only rarely in art”

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.

A winter known as Giorgio Vasari, stated that Michelangelo’s e works excelled “all ancient and modern statues, whether Greek or Latin, that have ever existed.” Michelangelo’s work, David, was very atypical in that the statue was unusually large and slender. By the 20th century, Michelangelo’s David had become iconic shorthand for culture with endless reproductions.

     The first artist who chose to create a sculpture of David was Donatello. Donatello’s David was the first life size nude statue since the classical times. His creation found a median between Classicism and the realism by creating David as a very real person. He was

The Bronze David by Donatello of the Early Renaissance shows a subtle transition through style and form to the High Renaissance when compared to the marble David by Michelangelo. Yet a similar Renaissance interpretation of the character of David is seen in both pieces. Donatello’s David embodies the humanism and classicism of the Italian Renaissance, and pioneers styles that would influence a generation. The perfection of David by Michelangelo creates a similar allusion to humanism and classical form while indicating Donatello’s lasting influence and inserting neoplatonic ideas of the High Renaissance.

In 1464, Agostino di Duccio took on the challenge to build the statue of David, but only got as far as doing the legs. The marble was becoming fragile and weak making it hard for him to finish. The marble sat there for twenty-five years. Then a young artist, Michelangelo was pushing the Opera del Duomo for the project. The Opera del Duomo gave him consent to do it on August 16, 1501. On September 13, he started working on the project and that would last him 3 years. The statue was unveiled on January 1504 to the Vestry Board and to Pier Soderini. It was original supposed to be placed high up in the Cathedral. But it was so perfected they wanted to place it where everyone could see it. They placed it in Florence, in Piazza Della Signoria. In 1873 the statue was moved into Galleria dell ’Accademia to prevent from weathering and damage.

An accomplished sculptor, Andrea del Verrocchio was a painter, draftsman and goldsmith, and the leading sculptor in Florence at the time. His two piece David is nearly four feet tall and over 300-pound created by Verrocchio between 1465 and 1470. Andrea del Verrocchio. It is not a classical nude but his shape is visible. David is shown with a blade in his hand, slight smug smile as young lean yet muscular brash and proud. He is wearing a military leather doublet short tunic and sandals in a contrapposto pose with Goliath's head, which is the second piece, at his feet as he looks at the viewer with a direct satisfied gaze. He has curling hair with one hand on his hip and the other holding a dagger. There is not an agreement as to where Goliath's head should go it has been shown with the head at the

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

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,