Old Testament David in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture

Posted: January 5th, 2023

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Old Testament David in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture

In the art industry, David is used as the masterpiece of the Renaissance, which was created through marble from 1501 to 1504. The sculpture was created by an Italian artist named Michelangelo as a representative of the biblical History of David. The marble sculpture is 5.17 Metre high and constitutes the most preferred discipline in the art of Florence. The statue was initially commissioned as one of the prophet’s statues strategically destined to be positioned alongside the east end roofline. However, it was later replaced by the public square in the region outside Palazzo Vecchio, located in the region for the civic government in Florence. It was later unveiled on 8^th September 1504 (Mangone and Carolina 2020). The statue was, however, later replaced at the original place through the use of a replica. The sculpture was symbolically designed in a representation of King David as illustrated in the Old Testament. Therefore, this essay will expound on the style, moment of the story, History of the Commission the replacement, as well as the historical significance of the four representations of the Old Testament King David as illustrated in the Renaissance and Baroque sculpture.

Style

Symbolic

The David sculpture was designed symbolically due to the nature in which the figure is represented. The statue was symbolically designed to illustrate the defense of the civil liberties incorporated in the Republic of Florence (Bartoloni et al. 362). The Republic was an independent city-state that was highly threatened by the various superpower states neighboring it on all sides in addition to the heteronomy of the Medici family. Just as the statue was designed with David’s eyes being fixated towards Rome, it symbolized the rivalry accorded from the neighboring states, which threatened her peace and political stability.

Sympathy

The David sculpture in the Italian Renaissance was used to articulate the sympathy among the resident in Italy. This is through the art being used to invoke the individuals to relate the bodily imagery rather than the mindset mentality (Bartoloni et al. 365). As Bernini designed, he aimed at utilizing the context surrounding the sculpture in reaching for the outward space of the viewer. The sympathy part is depicted from the feeling developed upon looking at the sculpture as one starts to sympathize with David.

Historical Commission of sculpture

The commissioning of David’s sculpture can be traced back in History to the periods before Michelangelo’s work which were initiated from 1501 to 1504. The oversees of the office works within the Florence cathedral had in History initiated the development of commissioning twelve sculptures about the Old Testament sculptures for the buttresses’ functions (Mangone and Carolina 2020). For instance, Donatello art of making sculptures can be traced to 1410, where he started with a figure of Joshua which was instituted in terracotta followed by the Hercules figure which was adopted from a Florentine sculptor in 146. The artist had been directed by Donatella in his artistic works. Opera hence contracted Agostino into the creation of David’s sculpture. The marble on which Agostino worked with in the scalping of the art was acquired from Carrara town quarry in Apuan Alps. This material provided Agostino with the many resources he needed to initiate scalping of the legs, feet, and torso, with the association ceasing in 1466 following the demise of Donatello. Soon after the replacement of Agostino by Rosellini, the contract with Rossellino was terminated, with the sculpturing being neglected for almost 26years (Mangone and Carolina 2020). The project then drew the attention of the Opera since it was exposed at the yard of the cathedral workshop in addition to the costly nature of the block and amount of labor demanded, and challenges encountered in the transportation of the sculpture to Florence.

The Cathedral workshop inventory described the statue figure as blocked out in 1500, with later announcements declaring the Opera’s determination to seeking an artist capable of using a relatively larger piece of work into a finished sculpture. This culminated in ordering a giant block from which the various artists were invited to ascertain their work, with the committee settling on Michelangelo as the official contractor for the carving of the David sculpture (Mangone and Carolina 2020). The carving process started on 13^th September 1501, a month following the signing of the contract.

Moment of the story of the David sculpture in Italy

The David sculpture was based on the David and Goliath story as illustrated in 1^st Samuel 17. The story, as illustrated biblically, describes the instance when the Philistines were fighting through the leadership of their hero Goliath who kept on getting in a battle with the Israelites in a single combat battle (Mangone and Carolina 2020). The Israelites were challenged to choose the bravest soldier for the challenge until David, the shepherd boy young to be a soldier as society mocked, accepted the challenge. Although Saul offered David amour and weapons, he declined and believed in the sling in the enemy confrontation. Roberts and Sean (220) attest that he hit the enemy in the head with a stone and cut off his head through faith and trust in God. The challenge’s winning was exceptional strength gained from God with an illustration of triumph victory over the evil as illustrated in the Bible where Israelite were freed off from Philistine who withdrew as agreed.

Historical significance

Early Renaissance: Donatello, Bronze David, Florence, 1430-50

Donatello’s postulations in the sculpture are similar to the biblical implications where David is depicted as an adolescent. The sculpture acts as the foundation of Verrocchio sculpture, whose sculpture was placed alongside his sculpture in the Medici palace. The sculpture by Donatello is more relaxed as per the design and is quietly modeled (Roberts and Sean 227). The sculpture is vital in History as it illustrates the importance of a political monument. It could have been used to illustrate the exile of the Medici family in 1494, after which the statute was moved to the courtyard of Pallazo Della Signoria, then to Uffizi, and finally to Museo Nazionale del Bargello.

Verrocchio, Bronze David, Florence, 1470s

The Verrocchio’s David bronze is significant concerning the sense of assurance if not smug satisfaction with the victory he had accomplished in the battle against the giant. The self-sense figure is evident in his expression of the vitality character as designed in the Verrocchio character (Bambach et al. 2017). David’s transformation as the leader from shepherd is evident as a complete image in Verrocchio’s character.  Historically, the sculpture can be used symbolically to represent the endurance of the Medici family alongside Florence.

High Renaissance: Michelangelo, Marble David, Florence, 1501-4

As illustrated in Michelangelo’s works, the sculpture was a  symbolic initiation from the conventional representations of the various biblical great leaders from the middle ages concerning the Renaissance. In the sculpture, David is designed about the instance when he pitched his lucky stone pitched the fortunate stone in which he used to strike the giant Goliath using sling hence drawing the theme of the most experienced warrior (Moisture and Peta 403). This is as illustrated in the Old Testament testimonials in the Bible. Michelangelo used the symbolic style in designing the sculpture where he refrained from illustrating David the hero one foot standing as well as the illustration of David holding the bloody head of Goliath but instead incorporated the instances before the striking of the king to depict the courage and hope in being the next victor. As illustrated in the scripture, different from other historical contributors such as Donatello and Verrochio, he is deep in thought as he stands on while holding the stone on the left shoulder, probably testing the weight. At the same time, a sling hangs on his back (Moisture and Peta 401). The statue was placed in the city’s political heart, with the statue representing for the Florentines the nascent Republic’s capability to prevail over the foes through the utilization of intelligence in their strategies rather than simple military fights.

The Michelangelo sculpture offers a historical significance in its application. The artist used it to illustrate the need to focus on the head and empty hand in emphasizing intelligence and strategy being effective in the war rather than a weapon (Mangone and Carolina 2020). This explains the historical importance as it scares individuals upon the visit to the city before understanding the significance of the sculpture to the individuals in Italy. The sculpture was soon used to represent God’s blessings over the Roman individuals hence the sculpture being imprinted on the various individual’s T-shirts, Caps as a form of unity.

Baroque: Bernini, Marble David, Rome, 1623

This sculpture accounts for one of the sculptures commissioned in the decoration of the Bernini villa. The sculpture as commissioned is used to imply the movement as well as the psychological intensity. The sculpture was designed within seven months and is based on the subject that shepherd David is about to challenge Goliath by using his string. The sculpture is dressed according to the shepherd’s attire, with armor lying on the feet. The iconographic device of David is about David the Psalmist (Moisture and Peta 403). Hence, the sculpture constitute to the root of the renaissance artists who formulated the David sculpture in Italy.

Ultimately, David’s sculpture can be used historically as Renaissance as illustrated in Italy, which aligns with the discussion above. The sculpture’s commissioning is dated to different years in History, even before Michelangelo’s work began, which took three years to finish scalping the sculpture. The sculpture is historically significant, as illustrated above in the early Renaissance, Verrocchio, High Renaissance, and Baroque.

Works cited

Bartoloni, Paolo, and Francesco Ricatti. “David Must Fall! Decentring the Renaissance in Contemporary and Transcultural Italian Studies.” Italian Studies vol. 72, no. 4, 2017, pp. 361-379.

Bambach, Carmen C., et al. Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017.

Mangone, Carolina. Bernini’s Michelangelo. Yale University Press, 2020.

Moisture, Peta. “Memories of James David Draper, 1943–2019.” The Sculpture Journal vol.29, no. 3, 2020, pp.401-405.

Roberts, Sean. “Antonio Rossellino, the Eros of Praxiteles, and Michelangelo’s David.” source: notes in the History of art vol. 39, no. 4, 2020, pp. 219-229.