David (Donatello, Marble)
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''David'' is a
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
statue of the biblical hero by the
Italian Renaissance sculptor Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), known mononymously as Donatello (; ), was an Italian Renaissance sculpture, Italian sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sc ...
. One of his early works (1408–1409), it was originally commissioned by the Operai del Duomo, the Overseers of the Office of Works, for the
Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...
and was his most important commission up to that point. In 1416, the
Signoria of Florence The Signoria of Florence (Italian for "lordship") was the government of the medieval and Renaissance Republic of Florence, between 1250 and 1532. Its nine members, the ''Priori'', were chosen from the ranks of the guilds of the city: six of th ...
ordered the statue to be sent to the
Palazzo della Signoria A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
(now known as the
Palazzo Vecchio The ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the , which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally called the ''Palazzo della Signoria'', a ...
), where it held both a religious and political significance. As part of its relocation, Donatello was asked to make adjustments to the ''David''. Typical of the
International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art that began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by the ...
style, the marble piece is noted as not being representative of the approach Donatello had toward his work as he matured. The statue is also clothed, unlike the nearly nude bronze figure of David which Donatello sculpted circa the 1440s. The latter became more widely known than his marble piece; both are now in the
Museo Nazionale del Bargello Museo may refer to: * ''Museum'' (2018 film), Mexican drama heist film * Museo station, station on line 1 of the Naples Metro {{disambiguation ...
in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
.


History


Biblical background

Donatello's statue depicts
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
in the story of David and
Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...
told in
1 Samuel 17 1 Samuel 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samu ...
of the biblical
Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...
. In the narrative, the
Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
are fighting the
Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...
, whose champion – Goliath – repeatedly offers to meet the Israelites' best warrior in
single combat Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies. Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...
to decide the whole battle. None of the trained Israelite soldiers are brave enough to fight the giant Goliath, yet David, a shepherd boy who is too young to be a soldier, accepts the challenge.
Saul Saul (; , ; , ; ) was a monarch of ancient Israel and Judah and, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the first king of the United Monarchy, a polity of uncertain historicity. His reign, traditionally placed in the late eleventh c ...
, the king of Israel, offers David armour and weapons, but the boy is untrained and refuses them. Instead, he goes out with his sling and confronts Goliath before hitting the giant in the head with a stone and knocking him down. He then grabs Goliath's sword and cuts off his head, causing the Philistines to withdraw as agreed, and saving the Israelites. David's special strength comes from
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, and the story illustrates the triumph of good over evil. According to Olszewski, David's triumph over Goliath has been interpreted as a "parallel of Christ's triumph" over the devil.


Commission

In 1408, the Operai del Duomo commissioned the statue. At the time,
Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), known mononymously as Donatello (; ), was an Italian Renaissance sculpture, Italian sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sc ...
was twenty-two and had been active in the workshop of
Lorenzo Ghiberti Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptister ...
. Donatello's earliest known important commission, the marble ''David'' statue was to be placed on the
tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...
of the dome at one of the
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es on the north side of
Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral (), formally the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower ( ), is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence in Florence, Italy. Commenced in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed b ...
.
Nanni di Banco Giovanni di Antonio di Banco, called Nanni di Banco ( 1374 – 1421), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. He was a contemporary of Donatello – both are first recorded as sculptors in the accounts of the Florence Duomo in 1406, p ...
was commissioned to carve a companion piece, a statue of equal size depicting the prophet
Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...
. One or the other of the statues was lifted into place in 1409, but at 6½ feet (just under two metres) high was found to be too small to be easily visible from the ground and was taken down; both statues then languished in the ''Opera del Duomo'', the workshop of the Duomo for several years. According to Caglioti ''et al.'', it is possible that it was Donatello's ''David'' raised on the north tribune of the cathedral and removed soon afterward. As the removal occurred on 3 July 1409, it might have been erected on the feast day of
John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
(24 June), the
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of the city. It is also possible that instead it was di Banco's sculpture of Isaiah that was placed on the tribune. H. W. Janson, in his
monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
on Donatello (1957), made his case that the marble ''David'' was indeed the statue commissioned by the ''Operai del Duomo'' in 1408 to accompany the ''Isaiah'' carved by Nanni di Banco, a point disputed by some historians. On 3 July 1409, the ''Operai'' decided to remove the statue of a prophet that had been installed "near the dome", an action later recorded by Italian historian Giovanni Poggi. Therefore, it appears that one of the two statues had actually been placed on the buttress. Because Donatello's ''David'' had been completed only three weeks prior, this must have been the ''Isaiah'', and the marble David never left the Cathedral workshop until it was suddenly transferred to the Palazzo della Signoria. Janson never doubted that the Bargello ''David'' was the result of the 1408 commission, concluding that the youthful Donatello had miscalculated the visibility of his sculpture when viewed from street level ninety feet (about 27 metres) below. Manfred Wundram disputes Janson's association of the marble ''David'' with the cathedral buttress, pointing out that its surface is extraordinarily refined, to a degree not necessary for a figure placed so high above the street below. He notes also that it lacks the scale, not to mention the exaggerated details and posture needed to be discernible at such a distance, an unlikely omission for an artist so sensitive to the placement of his sculptures and to their relationship with the beholder. For him it is obvious that the sculpture with its fine work was intended to be viewed by a closer audience. Olszewski opines that whether or not it was ever installed in that location is unclear, but in any case it was promptly returned to the Opera del Duomo and replaced by Donatello's ''Joshua'', a colossus in
terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
.


Execution and design

Amy Bloch observes that a number of arguments have been made concerning the manner of the execution of Donatello's marble ''David''. Some authors declare that it was carved circa 1409 and altered by Donatello in 1416, before it was moved to the
Palazzo della Signoria A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
. Others, such as Manfred Wundram, argue that it was always intended for placement in the palace. He speculates that Donatello carved the Bargello ''David'' particularly for the governmental palace and sculpted the ''Isaiah'' around 1409. The marble piece is a work closely tied to tradition, revealing few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical
contrapposto ( 'counterpoise'), in the visual arts, is a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane. First appearing in Ancient Greece in the early 5th ...
, the figure holds a swaying Gothic posture that derives from Ghiberti's influence and is particularly representative of the
International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
. Alluding to ancient Greek heroism, the figure wears a crown of
amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan group of more than 50 species which make up the genus of annual plant, annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some names include "prostrate pigweed" an ...
. In antiquity, amaranth was associated with
Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...
and represented the "undying memory of heroes". At its time the statue was considered "as an achievement of great significance", its style reflecting a transition from
International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art that began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by the ...
to the early Renaissance, with features that Poeschke referred to as "the slight twist of the body, the challenging level gaze, and the left arm brazenly propped against the hip." According to art historians Charles Avery and Sarah McHam, the head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the young sculptor's genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".


Adjustments and relocation

In 1416, the
Signoria of Florence The Signoria of Florence (Italian for "lordship") was the government of the medieval and Renaissance Republic of Florence, between 1250 and 1532. Its nine members, the ''Priori'', were chosen from the ranks of the guilds of the city: six of th ...
commanded that the ''David'' be transferred from the workshop at the cathedral to the
Palazzo della Signoria A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
(also known as Palazzo dei Priori and now known as the Palazzo Vecchio). The statue was installed there in September, in the ''Sala dell'Orologio'', ("Hall of the Clock"). displayed against a wall painted with a pattern of Florence's emblem of the lily. As these heraldic lilies were symbols of Florence's alliance with the Angevin dynasty, this placement of the marble statue indicates that it had political significance. Maria Monica Donato writes that the placement of Donatello's marble ''David'' in the Palazzo della Signoria was in the Florentine tradition of using images as civic symbols, as part of a programme of political propaganda by the first generation of
humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" has ...
. In addition to being a religious hero, a victorious David was seen to have a "special civic value in early fifteenth-century Florence". As a figure, David was an effective political symbol with an anti-tyrannical connotation. This Florentine view of David accounted for the adjustments Donatello was asked to make to the statue. Avery and McHam write that upon its acquisition by the Palazzo della Signoria, the statue was "painted, gilded, and set on a
pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...
inlaid with mosaic and must have looked highly ornamental". David "became a symbol of good government", inspiring its pedestal inscription: ("To those who fight bravely for the fatherland the gods lend aid even against the most terrible foes").


Later provenance and exhibitions

Both of Donatello's statues of David, in marble and in bronze, entered the collection of Florence's
Museo Nazionale del Bargello Museo may refer to: * ''Museum'' (2018 film), Mexican drama heist film * Museo station, station on line 1 of the Naples Metro {{disambiguation ...
in the 1870s. In 2023, the marble ''David'' was exhibited in the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
in London as part of its "Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance" exhibition. This was the first time it was seen in the United Kingdom.


Influence and subsequent projects

The experience with the statue first placed at the buttress on the roofline of the cathedral being found to be too small to be easily visible from the ground was probably decisive for Donatello. The result was the ''Joshua'', a 16½ foot-high (five-metres high) colossal statue of the Biblical figure, made in 1410 of terracotta painted and
gesso A restored gesso panel representing St. Martin of Tours, from St. Michael and All Angels Church, Lyndhurst, Hampshire Gesso (; 'chalk', from the , from ), also known as "glue gesso" or "Italian gesso", is a white paint mixture used to coat rigi ...
ed white to imitate weathered Antique marble. It was erected in 1412 on one of the buttresses of the dome. Around the 1440s, Donatello produced his nearly nude bronze statue of David, which art historians now consider an iconic sculpture of the Renaissance. It has been hypothesised by some commentators that Donatello created another marble statue of David, once belonging to the Martelli family, allies of the Medici, and usually called the "Martelli David". Several artists had significantly reworked the surface of the unfinished statue. In 1489, the statue was described as being set into a wall in the Martelli palace, with Donatello receiving no attribution. It is shown in the background of the painting, '' Portrait of Ugolino Martelli'' (1536 or 1537), by
Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...
. The unfinished statue was acquired in 1916 by the Widener Collection of the
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
in Washington, DC from the Palazzo Martelli. John Pope-Hennessy vigorously disputes that the Martelli David should be ascribed to Donatello as asserted by
Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...
in the sixteenth century, and adduces evidence to support his contention that it was a work by the Florentine sculptor
Antonio Rossellino Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...
. The National Gallery of Art attributes it to either
Bernardo Rossellino Bernardo di Matteo del Borra Gamberelli (1409–1464), better known as Bernardo Rossellino, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect, the elder brother of the sculptor Antonio Rossellino. As a member of the second generation of Renaiss ...
(1409–1464) or his brother Antonio (1427–1479). Attempts by other sculptors to carve a marble ''David'' included an abruptly aborted attempt in 1464 by
Agostino di Duccio Agostino di Duccio (1418 – ) was an early Renaissance Italian sculptor. Born in Florence, he worked in Prato with Donatello and Michelozzo, who influenced him greatly. In 1441, he was accused of stealing precious materials from a Florent ...
on a huge block of marble that had been acquired by the ''Opera'', and a short-lived engagement by
Antonio Rossellino Antonio Gamberelli (1427–1479), Janson, H.W. (1995) ''History of Art''. 5th edn. Revised and expanded by Anthony F. Janson. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 465. nicknamed Antonio Rossellino for the colour of his hair, was an Italian Renaissance ...
ten years later. However, it was
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
who won the commission and finally managed to carve his colossal ''
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
'' out of the neglected block decades later. Michelangelo's piece was not installed on the cathedral either, but in front of the Palazzo della Signoria (later replaced by a copy at that location), once again because of David's vital symbolic meaning for the city-state.


Notes


References


External links


Discussion and several detailed photos
on Oneonta.edu, ( SUNY) {{Authority control 1408 works 1409 works 1416 works Marble sculptures in Italy Sculptures of David Sculptures by Donatello Sculptures in the Bargello