“For in it may be seen most beautiful contours of legs, with attachments of limbs and slender outlines of flanks that are divine; nor has there ever been seen a pose so easy, or any grace to equal that in this work, or feet, hands and head so well in accord, one member with another, in harmony, design, and excellence of artistry.”-- Giorgio Vasari, “Michelangelo's David” (1550)
On this date in 1504, Michelangelo Buonarroti unveiled in Florence his statue of David, at the moment when the Biblical hero had determined to take on Goliath. The project, finished three years and three weeks after he had won the official contract, must have seemed to the Overseers of the Office Works (Operai) the same kind of Herculean task that faced the Old Testament athlete-warrior-king.
Opera, comprised mostly of members of the influential Wool Guild, reached out to Donatello and his assistant, Agostino di Duccion, about creating the statue as part of a series of 12 large Old Testament sculptures for the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore—all the way back in 1464.
Duccion’s involvement with the project ended with Donatello’s death two years later.
The man who succeeded him on the project, Antonion Rossellino, had his contract terminated not long after.
For a quarter century, the husk of a statue—just legs, feet and chest beginning to take shape—lay exposed to the elements outside in the cathedral’s workshop. The Operai, wanting it finished, called in several people, including Leonardo da Vinci, to see what could be done. In the end, it was 26-year-old Michelangelo who convinced them he was the man for the job.
History has proven him right.
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