David by Michelangelo
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Wolran Kim
December 2012
The artist is Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 –1564). He is an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet who is an immortal representative of the Renaissance with Leonardo Da Vinci and Sanzio Raffaello. He liked sketches mimicking Giotto and Masaccio from his childhood rather than schoolwork but his father shamed and disapproved of artists coming out of his family. He took apprenticeship under Domenico’s studio in Florence for three years when he was 13-years-old, and provided general liberal arts and techniques as a painter. He refused the refined art style of Florence and enjoyed the monumental strong representation.
Since 1489, he learned a piece of sculpture in Florence, and received a lot of compliments from people after producing Pieta of Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1496, and David in Florence at the age of 29. He also painted The Creation of Heaven and Earth on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512, and The Last Judgment after that. The last years of his life were devoted to construction work for a domed design of Peter’s Cathedral, and Port ferry Pia until his dying moments. He died with apoplexy in 1564 and was enshrined in Santa Croce Cathedral in Florence. He practiced celibacy and bigotry with an inferiority complex about his nose, which was hurt from his friend in his childhood. He expressed and poured his passion into the art of beautiful bodies through his suffering and complex of his appearance.
David, which is one of his masterpieces, is a petite figure of boy hero in the Old Testament who knocked down the giant Goliath who was the commander of the enemy, with a stone. David was an Israel’s king (BC 1000), father of Solomon, and wrote much of the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. The meaning of the name, David is ‘be loved by Jesus.’ Most of David’s figure is portrayed as a comely youth holding a knife stepping on Goliath’s head under his feet. But David of Michelangelo is not a figure of victorious warriors but solemn determination and tension of fighting. The boy, David is poised and balanced with a decisive look and a strained shoulder catapult.
David’s unrealistic body proportions are unusual to Michelangelo’s sculpture. His head and hands, especially the right-hand are exceptionally huge compared to the full body size. Artists adjusted considering the location where the roof of the cathedral is and people could more prominently see the statue. David’s penis is also figured as not having been circumcised unlike traditional Jewish origin. This was a renaissance art custom that lasted. Michelangelo is evaluated as a Renaissance artist who understood ancient Greece, Rome enough and also surpassed that level. David is representative of Renaissance sculptures and symbolizes the beauty and strength of young flesh.
Michelangelo was commissioned by the Florence Cathedral to produce a large marble statue in 1501, and it was not the image of victory unlike his usual inclination. In the early 15th century, before the Italian unification, a Republic of Milan tried to occupy the Duchy of Florence but it did not happen due to the sudden death of the ruler of Milan. People of Florence regarded this as a victory by the will of God, and compared Florence with David and Milan with Goliath. The Florentine people encouraged their citizens and celebrated this victory with the David sculpture in several places. David has been moved indoors in the Academia Museum of Art in order to prevent no longer undermining in 1873, and the current David in the Piazza Della Segnoria is a statue of reproduction.
One of the main features of Renaissance art is nudity. The west, since Greece’s nudity, sought for universal proportion of the true and the beautiful shape of nude men. This tradition was resurrected in the Renaissance after lurking in the strict medieval period. The nude genitals are a core representation of the Renaissance, but David of Michelangelo was different. He tried to express David’s greatness of potential through the appearance of staring, watching, and the shoulder strap holding the pebbles to be ready to kill Goliath. These are also warning messages for the city of Florence to be threatened from intimidators. Michelangelo emphasized the strength of mind and the importance of technology through a smaller penis and larger head and hands than the ratio of the original.
The artist’s intended audience was Florence citizens. Michelangelo originally wanted to put his David in the middle of the Piazza Della Signoria. That is why he intentionally crafted bigger hands and feet consider the silhouette of sunset and dusk. The statue of David was created and officially commissioned by Michelangelo to find the idea of a new city where the fanatical reign of Girolamo Savonarola ended.
The reason David is beloved as one of the greatest sculptures by mankind is not simply because of the expression of a beautiful body and the strength of human. It is because of the conveying of the message of faith that dreams can finally come true when the inner potential is exercised and overcomes any difficulties. David’s original stone had been neglected for 40 years as a headache in the Florence Cathedral, and sculptors Donatello and Duccio were abandoned before Michelangelo. Michelangelo sublimated the abandoned stone to his historical masterpiece with the confidence and patience at the age of 26.
When he was pecking the stone, a girl came by and asked, “Why are you so stone to knock?” His answer was indeed excellent. “This rock is not just rock. An angel is sleeping in this rock and now I’m waking up sleeping angel.” His ability of insight saw hidden possibility and he used the opportunity to create a great accomplishment. We all have a sleeping angel inside us, and the angel is waiting to wake up. Human’s potential and self-confidence have infinite possibilities. All outcomes need the same process as sculpturing, removing, carving, trimming, and polishing. Unfortunately, most of us do not discover our hidden true self and waste our lives. David shows us that vision and passion make dreams come true as the eyes of a great artist, Michelangelo, saw the sleeping angel inside the stone with inspiration.
======================
Wolran Kim
December 2012
The artist is Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 –1564). He is an Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet who is an immortal representative of the Renaissance with Leonardo Da Vinci and Sanzio Raffaello. He liked sketches mimicking Giotto and Masaccio from his childhood rather than schoolwork but his father shamed and disapproved of artists coming out of his family. He took apprenticeship under Domenico’s studio in Florence for three years when he was 13-years-old, and provided general liberal arts and techniques as a painter. He refused the refined art style of Florence and enjoyed the monumental strong representation.
Since 1489, he learned a piece of sculpture in Florence, and received a lot of compliments from people after producing Pieta of Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1496, and David in Florence at the age of 29. He also painted The Creation of Heaven and Earth on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512, and The Last Judgment after that. The last years of his life were devoted to construction work for a domed design of Peter’s Cathedral, and Port ferry Pia until his dying moments. He died with apoplexy in 1564 and was enshrined in Santa Croce Cathedral in Florence. He practiced celibacy and bigotry with an inferiority complex about his nose, which was hurt from his friend in his childhood. He expressed and poured his passion into the art of beautiful bodies through his suffering and complex of his appearance.
David, which is one of his masterpieces, is a petite figure of boy hero in the Old Testament who knocked down the giant Goliath who was the commander of the enemy, with a stone. David was an Israel’s king (BC 1000), father of Solomon, and wrote much of the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. The meaning of the name, David is ‘be loved by Jesus.’ Most of David’s figure is portrayed as a comely youth holding a knife stepping on Goliath’s head under his feet. But David of Michelangelo is not a figure of victorious warriors but solemn determination and tension of fighting. The boy, David is poised and balanced with a decisive look and a strained shoulder catapult.
David’s unrealistic body proportions are unusual to Michelangelo’s sculpture. His head and hands, especially the right-hand are exceptionally huge compared to the full body size. Artists adjusted considering the location where the roof of the cathedral is and people could more prominently see the statue. David’s penis is also figured as not having been circumcised unlike traditional Jewish origin. This was a renaissance art custom that lasted. Michelangelo is evaluated as a Renaissance artist who understood ancient Greece, Rome enough and also surpassed that level. David is representative of Renaissance sculptures and symbolizes the beauty and strength of young flesh.
Michelangelo was commissioned by the Florence Cathedral to produce a large marble statue in 1501, and it was not the image of victory unlike his usual inclination. In the early 15th century, before the Italian unification, a Republic of Milan tried to occupy the Duchy of Florence but it did not happen due to the sudden death of the ruler of Milan. People of Florence regarded this as a victory by the will of God, and compared Florence with David and Milan with Goliath. The Florentine people encouraged their citizens and celebrated this victory with the David sculpture in several places. David has been moved indoors in the Academia Museum of Art in order to prevent no longer undermining in 1873, and the current David in the Piazza Della Segnoria is a statue of reproduction.
One of the main features of Renaissance art is nudity. The west, since Greece’s nudity, sought for universal proportion of the true and the beautiful shape of nude men. This tradition was resurrected in the Renaissance after lurking in the strict medieval period. The nude genitals are a core representation of the Renaissance, but David of Michelangelo was different. He tried to express David’s greatness of potential through the appearance of staring, watching, and the shoulder strap holding the pebbles to be ready to kill Goliath. These are also warning messages for the city of Florence to be threatened from intimidators. Michelangelo emphasized the strength of mind and the importance of technology through a smaller penis and larger head and hands than the ratio of the original.
The artist’s intended audience was Florence citizens. Michelangelo originally wanted to put his David in the middle of the Piazza Della Signoria. That is why he intentionally crafted bigger hands and feet consider the silhouette of sunset and dusk. The statue of David was created and officially commissioned by Michelangelo to find the idea of a new city where the fanatical reign of Girolamo Savonarola ended.
The reason David is beloved as one of the greatest sculptures by mankind is not simply because of the expression of a beautiful body and the strength of human. It is because of the conveying of the message of faith that dreams can finally come true when the inner potential is exercised and overcomes any difficulties. David’s original stone had been neglected for 40 years as a headache in the Florence Cathedral, and sculptors Donatello and Duccio were abandoned before Michelangelo. Michelangelo sublimated the abandoned stone to his historical masterpiece with the confidence and patience at the age of 26.
When he was pecking the stone, a girl came by and asked, “Why are you so stone to knock?” His answer was indeed excellent. “This rock is not just rock. An angel is sleeping in this rock and now I’m waking up sleeping angel.” His ability of insight saw hidden possibility and he used the opportunity to create a great accomplishment. We all have a sleeping angel inside us, and the angel is waiting to wake up. Human’s potential and self-confidence have infinite possibilities. All outcomes need the same process as sculpturing, removing, carving, trimming, and polishing. Unfortunately, most of us do not discover our hidden true self and waste our lives. David shows us that vision and passion make dreams come true as the eyes of a great artist, Michelangelo, saw the sleeping angel inside the stone with inspiration.