Florence - Florence and Tuscany - page 149

WHO'S THAT BLOKE?
Name David
Occupation World's most famous sculpture.
Vital statistics Height: 516cm tall, weight: 19 tonnes of mediocre-quality pearly white marble from
the Fantiscritti quarries in Carrara.
Spirit Young biblical hero in meditative pose who, with the help of God, defeats an enemy more
powerful than himself. Scarcely visible sling emphasises victory of innocence and intellect over brute
force.
Commissioned In 1501 by the Opera del Duomo for the cathedral, but subsequently placed in front of
the Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria where it stayed until 1873.
Famous journeys It took 40 men four days to transport the statue on rails from Michelangelo's work-
shop behind the cathedral to Piazza della Signoria in 1504. Its journey from here, through the streets
of Florence, to its current purpose-built tribune in the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873 took seven
long days.
Outstanding features (a) His expression which, from the left profile, appears serene, Zen and boy-
like, from the right, concentrated, manly and highly charged in anticipation of the gargantuan Goliath
he is about to slay; (b) the sense of counterbalanced weight rippling through his body, from the tension
in his right hip on which he leans to his taut left arm.
Why the small penis? In classical art a large or even normal-sized packet was not deemed elegant,
hence the daintier size.
And the big head and hands? David was designed to stand up high on a cathedral buttress in the
apse, from where his head and hand would have appeared in perfect proportion.
Beauty treatments Body scrub with hydrochloric acid (1843); clay and cellulose pulp 'mud pack',
bath in distilled water (2004).
Occupational hazards Over the centuries he's been struck by lightning, attacked by rioters and had
his toes bashed with a hammer. The two pale white lines visible on his lower left arm is where his arm
got broken during the 1527 revolt when the Medici were kicked out of Florence. Giorgio Vasari, then
a child, picked up the pieces and 16 years later had them sent to Cosimo I who restored the statue, so
the story goes.
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1 San Marco
This part of the city boasts far more than the city's most famous resident, one Signore
David. The frescoes in the Museo di San Marco are nothing short of superb.