David By Michelangelo

[alkan]

Michelangelo was 26 when he started work on the statue. He was given a huge block of marble that another sculptor had already made a start on.

 

That might partly explain why the hands and head of David are drastically out of proportion with the rest of the figure. But an expressive distortion of the limbs, which was not a characteristic of Ancient Greek sculpture, is also likely an innovation. Michelangelo expanded on it throughout his career.

Do you remember the experiment they did by placing the replica David in its designed original location? https://www.seeker.com/michelangelos-david-as-it-was-meant-to-be-seen-1765138881.html . I found that to be a quite convincing explanation for the size of hands and head.

[+ Avalon]

Do you remember the experiment they did by placing the replica David in its designed original location? https://www.seeker.com/michelangelos-david-as-it-was-meant-to-be-seen-1765138881.html . I found that to be a quite convincing explanation for the size of hands and head.

 

Perspective!

[Kenny]

Do you remember the experiment they did by placing the replica David in its designed original location? https://www.seeker.com/michelangelos-david-as-it-was-meant-to-be-seen-1765138881.html . I found that to be a quite convincing explanation for the size of hands and head.

Yes, but I’m not so sure. Placement that high up would have suggested a need to elongate the head, in order to compensate for the angle of vision, which is a technique commonly found in many saintly sculptures in interior church niches. Just making the head larger wouldn’t achieve that, I don’t think. No?

[alkan]

Yes, but I’m not so sure. Placement that high up would have suggested a need to elongate the head, in order to compensate for the angle of vision, which is a technique commonly found in many saintly sculptures in interior church niches. Just making the head larger wouldn’t achieve that, I don’t think. No?

I am trying to remember but I have a feeling that a statue in that location would not have been visible from any where close to the walls. You would have had to stand at some distance away and the "advantage" of an elongated head would be lost. In other words the distance would be more significant than the angle. The enlarged head and hands give more emphasis to the salient features. In any event, for whatever reason, the plan to place statues around the lesser domes was abandoned and that was probably a good thing. As mentioned further up the thread, I was in Milan recently and went up on the roof of the Duomo. We were astounded by the statuary on the top of the very highest pinnacles.

[Kenny]

In any event, for whatever reason, the plan to place statues around the lesser domes was abandoned and that was probably a good thing.

Yes, indeed!

[+ Avalon]

"Moses: In 1971 the Milne & Choyce Department Store offered the City a pair of marble statues which had been imported as part of their Centenary Celebrations. Both were full scale copies in marble of the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475-1564, being his famous David and Moses. The City declined the Statue of David but in 1973 installed the Moses at the base of the stairs leading to St Kevins Arcade. This marble statue is made of stone from the same quarry as the original."

 

Why would a city reject a statue of David?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers_Park,_Auckland

[+ WilliamM]

New Zealand may have thought a fake David was a bad idea so far from Europe.

[+ Avalon]

New Zealand may have thought a fake David was a bad idea so far from Europe.

 

But they accepted a statue of Moses

[+ WilliamM]

But they accepted a statue of Moses

 

Why are you arguing about a final decision made in NZ in 1973?

 

I vited Aukland and Christchurch in1974. It's not the original. There dozens of other things to see, especially the southern island, a real adventure.

Edited September 19, 2018 by WilliamM

[Elvis]

i knew a guy with the exact same body...he was a masterpiece too...just sayin

[Gadfly22]

The main reason why David is so small is because is he scared.

That is certainly the consensus opinion among "scholars". I, however, subscribe to the Costanza conjecture: