DAVID
FLORENCE: FULL OF WONDERS #2
As a doctor who spent years studying human anatomy I refuse to give any comment on this one. I'm yet not qualified!
David
Marble, ht. Cm 516.7
1502-1504
Marble, ht. Cm 516.7
1502-1504
''Nor has there ever been seen a pose so fluent, or a gracefulness equal to this, or feet, hands and head so well related to each other with quality, skill and design''
with these words Giorgio Vasari attempts to define the reasons behind the marvel that the vision of David provokes in the observer. He continues by stating that the statue so far surpasses both in beauty and technique ancient and modern statuary that one needn’t bother seeing other works in sculpture.
At the end of 1501, Michelangelo obtained the permission of the Opera del Duomo to work a block of marble which had been abandoned in the courtyard of the of the cathedral of Florence for the creation of the figure of the young hero, subsequently placed in front of Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza Signoria.
It has always been a subject of debate among scholars whether David is represented before or after his victory over Goliath. His sling is also barely visible as though to emphasize how David owed his victory not a brutal force but to his intellect and to his innocence. As soon as it was placed in front of Palazzo Vecchio the statue became a symbol of liberty and the civic pride for the Florentine republic. Surrounded by hostile enemy the city identified itself was the young hero who with the help of God, had defeated a much more powerful foe.
In 1873, Michelangelos statue was brought here to the Tribune of the Galleria, built expressly for it, and only in 1908, was it substituted in Piazza Signoria by a marble copy still there today. The bronze copy found in Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking in Florence was done in 1866
The Rape of the Sabine Women
Also known as the Abduction of the Sabine Women or the Kidnapping of the Sabine Women, was an incident in Roman mythology in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other cities in the region.
It has been a frequent subject of painters and sculptors, particularly during the Renaissance and post-Renaissance eras.
The word "rape" (cognate with "rapto" in Portuguese and other Romance languages, meaning "kidnap") is the conventional translation of the Latinword raptio used in the ancient accounts of the incident.
Modern scholars tend to interpret the word as "abduction" or "kidnapping" as opposed to a sexual assault
The three figures in the Rape of the Sabines are constructed along a spiraling vortex which, in its spatial movement, induces the spectator to move around the statue and offers infinite viewpoints. This type of composition goes beyond classical statuary based on the principle of a privileged viewpoint.
