Michelangelo's Statue of David - Personal Statement Example

There was not enough physical power in the city and the citizens were hoping for a power of their minds only. Cunningness and cleverness were two basic means for Firenze citizens to gain power over their enemies. Michelangelo dared to depict a mental power of citizens and to show that a beautiful body can have a cunning mind, which can gain victory over more powerful enemies. The superior enemies could have been fought only through some unusual strategies. Michelangelo’s David was identified with strength and anger.

It was unusual for time of the artist to show the dominance of the nation through numerous political connotations, which were evident in the statue. Actually, the main intention of the artist was to create a symbol of power and strength of the citizens. The project of this statue was initiated long ago and Michelangelo implemented his ideas in already existent statue. Numerous artists worked at it. Donatello and Agostino di Duccio were the first ones to work at the statue. di Duccio was responsible for creation of the legs of the statue.

Antonio Rossellino continued his ideas, but a final masterpiece was finished and polished by Michelangelo (Lieberman 2001, p. 67). A body of a young man is preparing for the battle with Goliath and it can be seen in his brave appearance. A spirit of intensity can be seen in bulging veins on a hand and his leaning body. It looks like David gets prepared for a serious and a decisive action. There are certain features, which were appropriate for the epoch of Michelangelo. Thus, a position of the contrapposto was relevant to the High Renaissance.

He leans on his right leg and hi left leg is relaxed. We can see that a left arm is in motion and his right hand hangs along his body. It is very natural of a person, who is ready for action and is thinking about his further actions. For the contemporaries it is unusual to find that David was on alert and made attempt to attack his enemies. They are more focused on his serenity and beauty of body lines. What is weird about this statue is that David has unrealistic proportions. The lower parts of the body are smaller than a head and the upper part of the body.

Hands of David seem to be very large too. Initially, there was an intention to place this statue high on a church and then parts of the body would have looked accurate. The real king David was circumcised, but the statue is not. This triggers other controversies. Unfortunately, in the modern times a statue was attacked by the vandals and in 1991 some toes of the left foot were damaged. A power of beauty is combined in the works by Michelangelo with a power of expressivity, feelings and a proper balancing (Condivi 1999, p. 57). These features are beyond traditions of Greek classicism.

The facial expression was unusual for Greek sculpture and a power of David is found in his restrain and inner ability of self- and energy control. His power is in his serenity. He looks calm and his eyes are fixed on his enemy, but he is not scared at all. The muscles of the forehead reflect his inner emotional tension (Olson 1992, p. 65). We can suppose that he feels anger and frustration. Michelangelo invented a central axis positioning of the statue. For example, the right side reflects serenity, while the left side reflects dynamism and activity.

The viewers cannot see both David’s eyes. His right eye is focused on Goliath and the left eye stays fixed. Michelangelo played with different artistic