Michelangelo's statue of David

Firstly, David came from the story of David and the Giant Goliath, which is a story from the Samuel book in the Old Testament.

No proof of the story to even exist, but to my own beliefs it is like any other imaginary story you used to get told before you sleep when you were child.

The story is about a young man David, defeats a giant in a battle then he became the hero.

 Although Michelangelo is well known for his paintings, he was also an accomplished sculptor. He finished his marble sculpture, David, in 1504 and it was displayed in a public square in the city of Florence. It was originally meant to be placed on the roof of the Florence Cathedral but at several tons it was too heavy.

A picture of Michelangelo:

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David is a good example of the concept of humanism that became popular during the Renaissance. Humanism believes in the worth of the individual person, rationalism, physical beauty, and Greek and Roman influences. David is a prime example of rationalism. In the Bible, David does not use brute strength to defeat the much larger Goliath but rather thinks and comes up with a plan to use a well placed stone. If we look at his expression we see that he looks thoughtful and slightly scared rather than aggressive. Also, David is physically beautiful. In humanism it was believed that physical beauty indicated moral goodness and was a blessing from God and this is evident on the statue. David is muscular and has a classically handsome face..

Humanism was derived from the theories of Greek and Roman philosophers and this esteem of Greek and Roman ideals extends to art as well. Many Greek statues featured a standing male nude. In the Middle Ages, statues were not depicted nude so Michelangelo took inspiration from ancient times. Despite previous Davids being displayed with Goliath’s head, Michelangelo chose to keep David alone in following with Greek tradition. His pose also mirrors ancient statues. Also, by depicting David alone Michelangelo places importance on the worth of the person. Despite being a story from the Bible there are no religious symbols in the sculpture to suggest that David was helped by divine intervention. Instead, the emphasis is placed on the solitary, strong David who was able to defeat Goliath by his own will.

Personally, I think David statue is a rare and unique beautiful work, by the amount of attention to detail, you can feel that David can spring into action at any moment, you can tell from the tense muscles and the way the body is shaped that this is the real definition of art.

By having a closer look, you can see the veins bulging on David's hands and the face expressions as if it is a real human. From how realistic the statue looks, you will nearly forget that is it made out of stone, very impressive. 

Emily Mcclelland Sep 17th 2016. McClinton, Brian. “Michelangelo’s David.” Humanism Ireland, vol. 117, July-Aug. 2009, pp. 12-13. http://www.humanistni.org/filestore/file/david%20michelangelo.pdf “Michelangelo’s David.” Accademia.org.http://www.accademia.org/explore-museum/artworks/michelangelos-david/