The Story Of David By Michelangelo

Next time you are visiting Florence, why not visit the Galleria dell' Accademia, because it is here you will find one of the most talked about statues in the world. That statue, if you have not already guessed is statue of David by Michelangelo.

Now, it needs to be pointed out that you aren't permitted to take pictures of the sculptures in the Accademia Gallery because of "copyright Laws" so the purchasing of postcards and pictures from the gift shops is encouraged. Strangely enough, these same laws are not enforced in Rome; you are simply not allowed to use flash cameras around the artwork. As a side note, I ought to point out that niether Papi Silvio or Rome send Florence the required funding for the maintenance, not to mention restoration, of the monumental churches and artwork, so paying a couple of euro for a postcard is a small price for the maintenance of these treasures.

The statue of David by Michelangelo did not always stand at the Galleria dell' Accademia; it originally graced an entranceway at the Piazza della Signoria. In 1873 , due to growing safety concerns, the original was replaced by a replica which even though not the original, remains to be an amazing piece of art and truly worth your time to check out. There is also no "copyright" limitation because it's a reproduction so it's possible to take as many pictures as you like.

The checkered history of David by Michelangelo

The famous King David, from the bibles Old Testament, may or may not have been a distant ancestor of Jesus Christ (according to your own beliefs and interpretations) but his beginnings and world famous journey to ultimate greatness were far from being easy. Very similar is the history of the great Michelangelo's Masterpiece, David.

From simple beginnings there came a King

David, it should be pointed out was carved from one solid piece of marble and stands at 5.17 meters or 17 ft . tall - now that's a pretty impressive sized rock!. This massive marble block was cut from a quarry in Tuscany (Carrara), close to 40 years prior to Michelangelo even receiving the commission or envisioning his masterpiece.

An assisitant of Donatello, Agostino di Duccio, was the very first to be given the commission and the block of marble. Much to his credit, Di Duccio did perceive his own statue of David in the blank marble block, but his vision of David never became a reality. After 2 short years he abruptly stopped declaring the marble to be much too difficult and time consuming to work with.

Discovering David by Michelangelo

The partially sculpted stone, sat gathering dust until the year 1474. Antonio Rossellino was the next in line to cut his marks in the great stone. however, after a few short months, Rossellino followed the footsteps of di Duccio and abandoned the project laying blame on the marble's intractability amongst other things.

By this time, the once great marble block had been cut and chiseled in accordance with the visions of earlier artists. Many renowned artists of the time considered the stone to be completely ruined and unusable Destined to be broken up and used as smaller marble pieces.

As they say, "it is always darkest before the dawn" and in 1501 the abandoned piece marble stone was given to a twenty six yr old assistant sculptor. This assistant sculptor went by the name of Michelangelo. Michelangelo could perceive what the stone should be rather than what the artist desired it to be. In a broad statement he confidently declared that he would finish the sculpture without drastically cutting it down, altering or adding new pieces to it.

Michelangelo's David was born

After a period of 3 years, Michelangelo opened his doors and anounced one of the world's great masterpieces as being complete. From a block of marble other artists would not or could not touch, the statue of David by Michelangelo was born. So much in awe were his contemporaries that they gave David a prominant place of high honor standing at the to the Palazzo Vecchio.

David stood triumphantly in that spot through the wind, weather and elements and totally accessible by the general public, for approximately 350 years. In 1873 the statue was transferred to the Accademia Gallery where it stands today attracting multitudes visitors' a year.