| David | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Donatello,_David,_bronze,_1435-40,_Florence,_Bargello,_detail.jpg) Donatello, David, bronze, 1435–40, Florence, Bargello, detail | |
| Artist | Donatello |
| Year | c. 1440s |
| Subject | David |
| Dimensions | 158 cm (62 in) |
| Location | Bargello |
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Florenz_-_Bargello_2014-08-09r.jpg)
David is a bronze statue of the biblical hero by the Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello, probably made in the 1440s. Nude except for helmet and boots, it is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, and holds Goliath's sword.
The creation of the work is undocumented. Most scholars assume the statue was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, but the date of its creation is unknown and widely disputed; suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s (Donatello died in 1466), with the majority opinion recently falling in the 1440s, when the new Medici Palace (now called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi) designed by Michelozzo was under construction.[1]
Decades earlier, Donatello worked on a marble statue of David. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. The bronze remains his most famous work, and was made for a secular context, commissioned by the Medici family. The iconography of the bronze David follows that of the marble David: a young hero stands with weapon in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, the favourite of the Emperor Hadrian, renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique, contrasted with the large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God. The boy's nakedness further implies the idea of the presence of God, contrasting the youth with the heavily-armoured giant. David is presented uncircumcised, which is customary for male nudes in Italian Renaissance art.[2]