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Slow Tuscany
> Tuscany
> Florence
> Michelangelo's David
About
Michelangelo's David...
Damiano
Andreini
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Florence,
Piazza Signoria is wrapped by a cold November evening. I'm coming
from the Cathedral and the first sight is on the whole square
with its coffee bars and the palaces all around. Palazzo
Vecchio dominates the scene, with its enormous embattled
tower and the big open loggia on its side. Both the Palazzo
and the loggia are enriched by several statues, each one with
its own story, which would be undoubtedly worth a separate article;
imperishable traces
of a XVI century Florence, of the Italian Renaissance, of a
town which has been contended for years between two fighting
factions: on one hand, big and powerful families allied to establish
the Republic; on the other hand, the most powerful family, the
Medici
family, rich bankers who were able to get the republic away
(12th August 1230) and obtain the absolute control of the city
and of the whole Tuscany for over two hundred years.
That is why so many statues present on this square: Palazzo
Vecchio was - and is - the center of the city power and all
the marbles were there in front of it to show the greatness
of the rulers; never cutting out the past, never destroying
its symbols, but rather adding grander stones simulacra each
time the power was handed over. And that also explains why the
very famous David
by Michelangelo, despite originally commissioned in 1501
for a different destination, was immediately "taken" by the
Florentine supporters of the republic, with the aim of celebrating
the victory (a temporary one) against the Medici family. The
biblical hero, therefore, was meant as the Republic; consequently,
the Medici family, was assimilated to Goliath. Michelangelo
was only 29 at that time, but his fame was already high as his
experience, only think that five years before, during 1499,
he had just completed the Pietà of Saint Peter.
Highly probable that he could have had a heart attack when he
was given the gigantic block of marbles from Carrara for the
new sculpture (it is over 4 meters high). In fact , the block
had already been partially and badly worked - 50 years earlier
- by a certain Agostino of Duccio, who later abandoned it. Nevertheless,
Michelangelo accepted to sculpture on it. To be wrong in sculpturing
this enormous block would have meant to throw the whole marble
away or leave it as material for bricklayers; but the great
genius
of Michelangelo stands in fact in his own power: the ability
to give the sculpture the appearance of a completed work immediately
at his earliest touches.
The Michelangelo style
was unique and unmistakable: with no mechanic tool except than
his flat top sculptor, Michelangelo immediately set his sculpture
"free" from the useless layers of stone, first on one side and
then on the other, and at his first look to the block, as reported
by many experts, he was able to "see" the already completed
work at its inside. No other sculptor could ever work so bravely
on a similar huge work.
We are told from the Bible (I Sam, 17) that the young shepherd
David hit the giant Goliath, in the center of his forehead,
with a stone thrown with his leather sling. Such moment has
been represented as the main pregnant of the whole event and
a lot of sculptors: Gian
Lorenzo Bernini have chosen it as the most representative
one. Not the same for Michelangelo, who instead chose the preceding
moment, the one in which the biblical hero concentrates on his
mission: the glance, likewise the thought,
is further ahead and the veins are swollen for the tension.
With one hand David keeps the sling
close to his shoulders, while in the other hand nervous
fingers keep the stone tightly.
A careful look to the statue, even at a distance, will provide
the observer the expressive power of these particulars, which
is purposely what Michelangelo wanted to supply to his work,
already at the time of the shaping of the marble block; some
parts of the body have been enlarged or reduced (hands, eyes
and eyebrows, for example) so as to highlight some details rather
than others. It is thanks to this visual hyperbolas that the
icy determination of David is rather rendered highly expressive.
We could go more and more ahead in telling about this statue,
but I decide to stop here, only adding that the original work
is kept in the Accademia Gallery, but please ignore this information:
the beauty of Piazza Signoria is something able to steal your
breath and the David is practically the only copy among the
other original statues!
Damiano Andreini |
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