# Michealangelo's "David" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025 "2001-12-05T14:18:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/21 "2001-12-05T19:38:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by capybara \* > \*\*Delphica, to further burst your wet blanket (heh), the statue was actually ORIGINALLY meant to decorate the Duomo, commissioned by the wool merchants’ guild, and sticking it in the Palazzo Vechhio piazza was something that was decided after it was already finished. So it was “meant” to be seen at the top of a buttress in a little niche 40 feet up or something. \*\* Excellent point about the original destination! The large head and feet are, in part, intended to compensate for some of the distance between the viewer and the intended destination of the statue up in its niche. One small quibble – the location change was proposed before the statue was completed. By January of 1503, there was already a lot of talk about the Piazza della Signoria. The Operai (who co-commissioned with the wool guild folks) had a hearing to let prominent Florentines and artists voice their opinion. Da Vinci, I believe, voted for the Loggia dei Lanzi (off to the side of the Piazza). Michelangelo knew its ultimate destination during the final stages of his work, he actually finished it after it was in place in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/22 "2001-12-05T19:53:35Z")
On a trip to other locations in Italy I intentinally made the excursion to Florence just to see _David_. I still regard it as one of the highlights of my life. It is simply awesome beyond words, beyond compare, beyond comprehension. ---
**Author:** ![Grok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Grok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grok)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/23 "2001-12-05T19:56:58Z")
I saw the David a few years ago in Florence. It was pretty cool how you come around a corner in the museum and see it at the end of a long ornate hallway. It’s well lit, and it actually seemed angelic. The hands were the most amazing part to me. Very detailed. All of David is impressive and beautiful, but the hands are what I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/24 "2001-12-05T19:57:15Z")
Venus de Milo, rowr! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/25 "2001-12-05T19:59:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by delphica \* > **I’m going to be a little bit of a wet blanket, I know, but I have to mention that I have always been a little disappointed that it’s in a museum, and not in the open air. I _know_ that it’s necessary to save it from pollution and vandals and art thieves…** Not to mention flying benches. (I believe that’s what broke the arm, right?) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/26 "2001-12-05T20:24:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cliffy \* > \*\*Not to mention flying benches. (I believe that’s what broke the arm, right?) > > –Cliffy \*\* Yep, during an uprising against the Medici in 1527 someone had the bright idea to defenestrate a bench from the Pallazo Vecchio onto the insurgents, instead breaking the left arm into a bunch of pieces. Giorgio Vasari, one of Mike’s biggest fans (and later biographer), picked up the fragments – but ol’ Humpty David wasn’t put back together for another couple decades. ---
**Author:** ![Venkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ec9cab/32.png) [@Venkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Venkman)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/27 "2001-12-05T21:22:23Z")
For reasons I can’t articulate even to myself, simply the most moving piece of art I’ve ever seen. Also while in Italy I saw the Last Supper, and the Sistine Chapel, and tons of other really amazing artwork, and I’ve been to the Met in NY and the Chicago Art Musuem (among others) and seen some great stuff, but none has ever had the impact on me that seeing “David” in person has. Even seeing tons of pictures and reproductions didn’t diminish the experience in any way. You know, it might be worth the trip to Italy just to see that single sculpture. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/28 "2001-12-06T03:49:20Z")
What Grok says is true. The museum has it set up to be very dramatic. It is probably one of the best displayed pieces of art anywhere. My experience is probably like many folks. I go to the museum, knowing nothing about it except that this is where David is. I wait in a long line. When I finally get in the first galleries are fairly small and full of unfamous art. I make some pretense of being interested in the unfamous art, all the while surreptitiously looking for a sign saying something like “This way to David—\>”. There are no signs like that. I wander around a corner and WOW! I see David with rays of light pouring down around him at the end of a very long gallery lined with the unfinished slave scuptures. So viewers first see him at a distance. It is really very dramatic. An incredible piece of sculpture. I think seeing it for real, after seeing the several replicas around Florence, really brought home for me the difference between a copy and the real thing. anecdote: my son threw up a few galleries past David (12 months old at the time). Several months later he threw up at a Rodin exhibition. I can only conclude he is unusually moved by great sculpture. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025/29 "2001-12-06T04:42:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BeerDog \* > \*\*I’ve never seen _David_, but in a strange coincidence, when I saw the _Venus De Milo_ in Paris one of the first things I thought was: “Man, she got some big feet!”. You can’t see them in most pictures but sticking out from under her robe/toga are some honking big dogs. Was this like a classical style or something? > \*\* Well, if you don’t have arms, you need to balance yourself somehow… 😉 I saw the _Venus de Milo_ too, although there were so many people around that it kinda lessened the impact. It was still great to see it. And I _really_ want to see _David_ in person now, after reading this thread! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michealangelos-david/97025.md?page=1)