Michelangelo’s marble masterpiece unveiled (and worth the weight)
Michelangelo’s masterpiece David is universally praised as the embodiment of physical perfection.
Yet the colossal marble block used to create the world’s most famous statue was previously abandoned by two other sculptors because it contained too many imperfections, or “taroli”, that could threaten its stability.
Italian sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti unveiled his sculpture of the biblical figure, David, in Piazza della Signoria in Florence on September 8, 1504.
He had been commissioned by the Opera del Duomo, the committee tasked with the decoration and maintenance of the cathedral, to work on a massive hunk of marble, nicknamed “the giant”, that had sat in the cathedral workshop for 26 years.
Michelangelo slaved over the 14ft, white marble sculpture for nearly three years, working in a secret courtyard and sleeping and eating sporadically, according to his biographer Ascanio Condivi.
His hard work and dedication paid off. The statue was intended to adorn the cathedral but it was agreed that the finished product was so impressive it should be showcased on its own.
It was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence, after it took 40 men four days to move it from Michelangelo’s workshop, and it became a symbol of liberty for the people of Florence.
Some art historians believe that Michelangelo carved David’s head, right arm and hands to bigger proportions than the rest of his body because, had it been displayed on a cathedral buttress as originally intended, these would have been better observed from below. His twisted stance could also be attributed to the awkward shape of the marble Michelangelo was working with. David remained at the Palazzo Vecchio until it was moved to Florence’s Accademia Gallery in 1873 to avoid vandalism.
It had been pelted with stones, and one arm was broken in three places during a riot against the Medici family rule. A replica was installed in its original site.
The statue attracts more than one million visitors a year to the Accademia Gallery, while numerous replicas are on display around the world.
Queen Victoria donated a plaster-cast copy of David to London’s V&A Museum in 1857. It is said she was so affronted by David’s nudity that a plaster fig leaf was created to hang on the statue to cover its modesty whenever she visited the museum. In 1991,
a man attacked the original statue with a hammer, causing damage to its left foot. It is now shielded behind protective glass but remains vulnerable.
Scientists discovered tiny hairline cracks in David’s ankles that slowly developed while the statue was accidentally left tilted for 300 years.
Italian geoscientists mapped these cracks extensively in 2014 and found that, because the body was designed slightly off-balance, there would be too much stress on its ankles if David was not kept completely upright. They warned that, should the statue tilt more than 15 degrees, its ankles could snap.
While that scenario is, thankfully, unlikely, it does at least suggest there is some beauty in imperfection.