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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
