Comparing David by Donatello and David by Michelangelo - Term Paper Example

? Analysis Paper Analysis Paper Two works of art that have been chosen for analysis in this paper are two sculptures of David from the Renaissance period. Michelangelo’s David dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. It was finished around 1504. Donatello’s David had been created a century earlier. Presumably, the bronze sculpture of David was finished in the 1440s. While these sculptures belong to two different periods within the Renaissance period, portray the biblical hero king David in different light, are made of different material, and have many other differences, they are both sculptures of nude males, gave the same subject matter (David’s victory over Goliath), and display the features of the Renaissance art. My goal in this paper is to critically examine these two sculptures and find how each of them represents its style, time period, and the talent of its creator. Also, the paper will focus on similarities and differences between these two sculptures visually as well as in terms of their meaning. First, let us focus on the sculpture of David by Donatello. This is a bronze sculpture which represents a standing man who poses one of his feet on his enemy’s head presumably after a victorious fight. The man is a portrayal of a biblical character – King David, while the head under David’s foot is that of giant Goliath. David is depicted with a mysteriously smile. He is nude but wears a hat with evergreen laurel on top of it. He also wears boots and has a sword in his hand. If to refer to the Scriptures, the sword is that of Goliath. Interestingly, the helmet of Goliath’s head features a feather. It looks as though it was attached to the victor’s foot. David, Donatello, bronze, circa 1440s Just as its predecessor – Donatello’s marble sculpture of David completed at the very beginning of the 15th century – bronze David appeared to be among the first free-standing sculptures of nude men since the time of Graeco-Roman civilization. Moreover, David within Donatello’s authorship was remarkably natural. This was possible to achieve due to the recently developed technique of schiacciato. The latter was about carving in a rather low relief with the help of the mathematical perspective trick taught by Brunelleschi, a famous architect of that time. That technique helped create illusion of bigger depth (Moretti, 2010, p.32). David by Michelangelo portrays King David in nude. David is presented in a pose which is clearly serene and confident. It seems he is contemplating something important. Perhaps this is the fight that he is about to have with Goliath, a giant warrior of enormous physical strength. This is the most widespread version of the statue’s background. Other critics also say David may be portrayed thinking about his victory after he defeated Goliath. The meaning behind this statue is “aspiration toward freedom, justice, and good government” (Bussagli, 2000, p.48). David, Michelangelo, marble, 1501-1504. The differences between these two sculptures of David stem from the fact that they were created within different periods. Donatello (1386-1466) lived and worked in Early Renaissance whose borders with late Middle Ages with its Gothic sculpture and architecture were still blurred. In history, this period is known as Quattrocento. Frederick Hartt in his History of Italian Renaissance Art (2006) refers to Quattrocento as to the forefront of Italian Renaissance. It encompassed culture and artistic heritage of both Middle Ages and Early Renaissance and may be called a transition from the medieval period to Renaissance. Revolutionary by its clearly expressed individualism, which was a sign of dramatic changes in all spheres of human life (economic, social, as well as cultural), Quattrocento was characterized by integration of Greek and Roman classic representations into the arts. At the same time, the Quattrocento artworks differed from those of High Renaissance with their highly perfect forms, lines, and representations. As or Donatello, he was a pioneer of classical forms in sculpture. On the contrary, Michelangelo’s David was created more than half a century later. Michelangelo, who died in 1564, was the dominant artist (both sculptor and painter) of the period known as High Renaissance. The latter began at the turn of the 16th century and was marked by a flow of new original solutions. In particular, Michelangelo’s David was lauded for providing a perfect sample of human forms (Bussagli, 2000). This may be explained by the fact that the great sculptor had studies human anatomy before. He was known to study it so thoroughly that he had even dissected human corpses to get to know about human bones and muscles. The two sculptures differ by meaning. Donatello’s David, which portrays a “serenely pastoral boy with his long locks and garlanded shepherd’s neck”, is devoid of heroism and rather appeals to sensuality and homoerotic feelings (“Art in Tuscany”, n.d.). Michelangelo’s David, on the contrary, managed to unite both naturalness and heroic idealism. Paoletti & Radke observe that Michelangelo’s David is “a striking representation of the male human body and (…) idealism that Michelangelo projected onto the body”. They further comment that this sculpture is well understandable as a representation of an ordinary man and at the same time as a hero (Paoletti & Radke, 2005, p.389). In terms of symbolism, both sculptures symbolize Florence, since David had been considered the symbol of the city from early days. David by Donatello, which was commissioned by the Medici, was placed in the centre of their Florentine courtyard. It meant that the family thought they were the owners of the city. Thus, the political symbolism is inherent here, scholars agree. As for Michelangelo’s David, it also symbolized Florence, but this symbolism was different from Donatello’s David. Specifically, Michelangelo managed to depict David before the battle in a confident and victorious light. The symbolism may be that Florence ended up a victor a few times during the periods of great threats in the last decade of the 15th century. The projection for the future is it will continue to do so. Although the overall theme is the same (David’s victory over Goliath), the subjects are a bit different. In Donatello’s sculpture David is depicted after the battle, while in Michelangelo’s David is portrayed before it. Yet, both David were sculpted in cotrapposto pose. In other words, Davids were presented standing naturalistically with the weight of their bodies falling on one hip and the remainder of the body shifting towards that. Below the two Davids are placed for comparison. Despite the fact the sculptures were made of different materials, Michelangelo’s David was made of marble and Donatello’s David from bronze, they were both inspired by statues found in Roman and Greek art. Besides, Michelangelo took inspiration from Donatello’s David since he considered the latter to have been a master of sculpture. Another difference is the size. Donatello’s sculpture is as high as 185 cm, while Michelangelo’s David was twice higher – 411 cm. In addition, the difference in materials suggested different approaches to work. Donatello’s David was constructed through casting in bronze the clay model of David. The process was very complex technically since the sculptor needed to cover the figure in wax after it had been sculpted. The wax would melt out once molten bronze got cast in the mould made from it. Michelangelo carved his David from marble. To conclude, despite many differences found between David by Donatello and David by Michelangelo, these sculptures were revolutionary artworks of their time. They were critical for changing the whole direction of sculpture as an art and inspired many other important creations (one of them the Baroque statue of David by Gian Lorenzo Bernini). Works Cited “Art in Tuscany” (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.casasantapia.com/art/donatello.htm. Bussagli, M. (2000) The great painters: Michelangelo. Giunti Editore. Hartt, F. (2006) History of Italian Renaissance Art. Person Prentice Hall. Moretti, J. (2010) Frommer's Florence, Tuscany and Umbria. John Wiley & Sons. Paoletti, J. & Radke, G. (2005) Art in Renaissance Italy. Laurence King Publishing. Read More