David (Donatello)

The David is a 158 cm tall bronze sculpture by the Italian sculptor Donatello. The work was made around 1440 (or 1430 according to some experts) commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, who wanted to place it in the gardens of his palace in Florence. It is currently in the Bargello. Donatello's David is one of the most important works of the early Renaissance. It was the first time that a sculptor had dared to create a male nude since classical antiquity.

Historical context

At the beginning of the 15th century, a mercantile society arose in Europe when banks were founded in the most prosperous cities, such as Paris or Florence; In the latter, prosperity allowed the Medici family to rise to power, with the consequent political influence, who became the great patrons of all the arts. Despite the fact that artists continued to be considered artisans, they improved their social position thanks to patronages that sought to elevate the position of their protected artists to liberal trades. Following the observations of Leon Battista Alberti: "... the artist in this social context should not be a simple craftsman, but an intellectual prepared in all disciplines and in all fields.

Throughout the 15th century appeared in Italy the period known as the quattrocento or the rinascimento dell'antichità, an artistic movement that evolved painting techniques, especially drawing. In the quattrocento, perspective was used as a means to achieve greater accuracy in the expression of reality from a certain point of view, and the oil technique was perfected. The architecture was inspired by Greek art, with purer lines and canons of great harmony; Likewise, in sculpture a return to the imitation of the classical figure was observed, with anatomy as the center of attention and seeking the perfection of the human body. Great artists, such as the architects Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti, the painters Masaccio, Sandro Botticelli, Filippo Lippi and Piero della Francesca, and the sculptors Ghiberti or Donatello, contributed to the splendor of the art of this era.

In 1436, Brunelleschi finished the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence, one of the most important architectural projects in the city. In 1426 Masaccio's Adoration of the Magi represented the renewal of painting at the time; His figures lose the graceful gesture of Gothic art and occupy a true space within the laws of linear perspective and color contrast. In Florence, this conception of art was already practiced by Brunelleschi, twenty-four years older than Masaccio, and Donatello, with whom there was a difference of fifteen years.

In 1425, the sculptor Ghiberti was commissioned to create the east door or Gate of Paradise for the Baptistery of Saint John (Florence), achieving in this work great perfection in bas-relief. Ghiberti's assistant was Donatello.

Biographical details of the author

The Florentine Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (1386-1466) is the most representative sculptor of Italian quattrocento sculpture. A disciple of Ghiberti until he became independent, and a protégé of Brunelleschi (with whom he studied the classical ruins of Rome), he is a renovator of all European sculpture, and especially of the technique of casting in bronze. On the other hand, he deeply studied the human being as the center and raison d'être of the Universe to which he treats in a whole range of characters and values, trying to penetrate his psychology.

Donatello learned the technique of bronze sculpture from Ghiberti on the doors of the Baptistery in Florence and soon rivaled his teacher. He was the most influential sculptor of the 15th century and has been compared to Michelangelo and Bernini. Among his qualities are the mastery he exercised over all techniques and materials, the psychological depth with which he expresses human feelings and his creative imagination to define the tomb (Sepulcher of Cardinal Reinaldo Brancacci in Naples), the pulpit (Girdle of the Virgin, Prato Cathedral), the altar (Tabernacle of the Annunciation of the Church of Santa Croce in Florence) among others. His most outstanding works are the Cantoría of the Florence Cathedral, the Saint George of Orsanmichele (in Florence), the equestrian statue of Condottiero Gattamelata (in Padua) and the David, commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici and which was placed in the courtyard of the Medici palace until 1495, when Piero de' Medici was expelled from the city, the statue being moved to the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio. Some of his works such as the Miracles of Saint Anthony, produced during his stay in Padua, represent the absolute triumph of schiacciato, a technique with which who manages to masterfully graduate the composition through a succession of flattened planes that lend a pictorial effect to the whole. Over time Donatello moved away from classicism and, driven by a religious crisis, already in Florence and in his later years, began a set of dramatic works that anticipate the anguish and terribilitá of Michelangelo (Penitent Magdalene).

Since 2007 a restoration of the work is being carried out to proceed with its cleaning. The work can be followed by visitors to the Bargello through a window that shows the room where the improvement work is carried out.

Story of David and Goliath

David was the son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah. He lived in Bethlehem with his father and his brothers, and belonged to a humble family that was dedicated to shepherding. As recounted in 1 Samuel 17:51, the events began when his father sent him to where the Israelite army was encamped to obtain news of his three older brothers. Arriving at the camp, David learned that a very strong Philistine, a giant named Goliath, was challenging any enemy in individual combat; In front of this warrior no Israelite dared to confront. Despite the fact that he was very young and inexperienced in the art of warfare and that Goliath was eight feet tall, David prayed to God and asked King Saul for permission to face the great warrior. He reminded the king that when a lion and a bear had attacked his herd, he had been able to kill them with his slingshot. Then the king gave him permission to fight the giant.

So David headed over to where Goliath was. He was dressed in the king's armor but because it was too heavy he took it off. He went to a stream where he picked up five stones and came to the battlefield with the sling as his only weapon. Goliath laughed at David when he saw him so young, with a delicate appearance and poorly armed. Then the shepherd put a stone in the sling and began to spin it and as he threw it he went straight into the giant's forehead knocking him to the ground. David quickly grabbed Goliath's sword and lopped off his head.

Analysis of the work

Detail of David's head.

Detail from the back.

Detail of Goliath's head.

Donatello interpreted this Biblical theme (taken from the First Book of Samuel) as a classical nude. In fact, it was the first full-length nude, a round bulge technique, to appear in Renaissance sculpture. It is a weighted, natural nude, but very expressive due to the firmness of the general compositional lines. David's victory over Goliath, a Philistine giant, is recounted. Donatello shows an adolescent David, naked, with his foot on Goliath's head, which he has just cut with his enemy's own sword and which David still holds in his right hand. With his other hand he holds the stone with which he struck Goliath. He has a serene expression and covers his head with a straw hat typical of Tuscany from which the locks of his hair fall; He also wears a crown of amaranth leaves, in clear allusion to Greek heroism, and his feet are shod with boots. On Goliath's head there is a helmet worked in detail with historiated reliefs and plant decorations typical of the early Renaissance (called in candelieri ), and where a bas-relief of a putti-winged chariot is represented.

With it, Donatello represents a biblical theme of great popularity and significance, not only religious, but also mythological and social. David is represented after his victory over the giant Goliath, after having killed him with his sling and after having cut off his head, which appears at his feet.

The attitude presented by the body, leaning on the right leg, is a clear influence of the style of Praxiteles, known in the art world as the "praxitelian curve" or contrapposto, and which contributes to breaking the law of the frontality providing a more harmonious movement to the body. It consists of representing the figure with a slightly bent leg, an innovation that is attributed to the sculptor Policleto.

The composition is well studied. The right leg of an adolescent David supports the weight of a light body, while the left rests on the head of the defeated giant. The angle generated here is counteracted with the left arm resting on the hip. David's daring nude—he wears only a hat and fur boots—highlights the inclination of the hips and recreates the Praxitelian curve (as has been mentioned previously), while giving movement and sensuality to the shepherd's anatomy. The polished, almost black surface of the bronze enhances the attractiveness of the youthful body. The sword he holds, the stone in his other hand and his satisfied look also give us, despite his youth, an idea of his courage. The Renaissance adopted the basic elements that Vitruvius had described, who held:

... that the proportion of human form should serve as a paradigm for the proportions of man's creations. Since nature has designed the human body so that its members are duly proportioned to the figure as a whole; it seems that the ancients had a good reason for their rule, which says that in the perfect buildings the different members must keep exact symmetrical relationships with the general scheme as a whole.

D'Architectura (I century)

The muscle modeling is very soft, blurred, almost feminine and the bronze finish is all smooth to simulate the smoothness of skin and is a magnificent example of bronze statuary.

According to Vasari:

It is such a natural figure and beauty that it is hard for artists to believe that it has not been moulded on a living model.

The symbolic interpretation is the relationship with Cosimo de' Medici who commemorates the victories of Florence over its rival, Milan. In the sculpture, David personifies Florence wearing the typical Tuscan hat, and Goliath Milan, one of whose symbols is the sword turned into a cross. His inscription also refers to the same theme:

Pro Patria fortiter dimicantibus etiam adversus terribilissimos hostes di i praestant auxilium.

To those who bravely fought for the motherland, the gods will give their help even to the most terrible enemies.

Some historians comment on the true representation of Donatello's sculpture: David and Goliath or Hermes defeating Argos? Alessandro Parronchi leans towards the second option due to the symbolic theme that expresses the laureate hat and sensuality pagan of the adolescent. The hat that, as has been said, could be Tuscan, is another argument in favor of this interpretation, since it could also be the wide-brimmed petasus typical of Hermes; It would also be pointed out by the psychopomp that is represented in Goliath's helmet, since one of Hermes' attributions was to guide souls to the other world.

The sculpture is an exaltation of the ambiguous beauty of the adolescent who seems to have defeated Goliath more for his courage than for his strength.

In conclusion, Donatello is considered the most influential sculptor of the early Renaissance. His David is a good example of how he knew how to free himself from all the traditional stereotypes of Gothic art, from the study of the human body based on models that posed for him and how he knew how to free sculpture from the ties that subordinated it to architecture.

Depiction of David's sculptures in art

Donatello himself had previously made a sculpture of David, commissioned for the choir buttresses of Florence Cathedral; for the same site they commissioned another from Nanni di Banco in which he was to represent Isaías. If both sculptures are compared, a flexion of the body of Isaías is observed that continues to be Gothic and that seems to have no central axis, that of David by Donatello presents a perfect counterpposto. Donatello made it in marble with a height of 190 cm; the great meticulousness of the finish recalls the influence he acquired when he worked with Ghiberti.

Verrocchio made a David in 1463-1465, in bronze, which is more brazen and bold, as well as being clothed; The same victorious moment as Donatello's David is reflected in the sculpture. It is located in the Bargello in Florence.

The first version of the David (1408-1409). Bargello National Museum, Florence. Height 1.91 cm	David of Michelangelo	David of Antonin Mercié

Michelangelo made a marble David in the period 1501-1504, with a height of more than five meters; It is the symbol of tension in the instant before launching into combat against Goliath. It is located in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.

Bernini executed around the years 1623-1624 a baroque statue of real size and in marble. It represents David in the fleeting and subtle moment of firing the stone at him. It is located in the Borghese Gallery in Rome.

Antonin Mercié made a bronze statue in 1871, where David has the head of Goliath at his feet, as in Donatello's, but he is wearing a turban and sheathing his sword. There are numerous representations, most incorporate a piece of cloth covering the genital area, although the buttocks are exposed. The original sculpture is in the Musée d'Orsay, in Paris.