David’s Penis - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 126

child of the Greek gods, Hermes and Aphrodite. So, this second David once again embod-
ies the merger ofthe two traditions feeding the Florentine Renaissance: the Judeo-Christian
and the Greco-Roman. Now, let's look at the implications of creating a figure that merges
David, Aphrodite and Hermes.
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Aphrodite,knowntotheRomansandtousmorecommonlyas“Venus”,wasthegoddessof
erotic love, artifice and beauty. The metal associated with Aphrodite is gold, as in lovers'
gifts of earrings and necklaces. Flowers, particularly as ornament and in the form of bou-
quets, are also part of Aphrodite's domain. The flowers in David's bonnet and the gold in
his hair and boots, along with his graceful, fetching feminine attributes, establish his Aph-
roditic aspect.
Hermes, aka Mercury, is best known to most of us today from the Giambologna statue that
was loosely appropriated as the logo for FTD, the instant floral delivery service. As the
fleet-footed god with wings on his sandals, he moves between worlds faster than a mouse-
click. If you look up Hermes in a dictionary of mythology, he'll most likely be identified
as the messenger of the gods and the patron of travelers. But a more profound and encom-
passing way to think of him is as the god who facilitates communication between different
realms.
For merchants traveling from one land to another, he was the god who might bring the
blessings of fruitful commerce. But in addition to pragmatic, horizontal movement across
the earth, Hermes also had a mystical, magical aspect: he constellated the possibility of
vertical movement between the three worlds: the heavens, the earth and the underworld. In
the Giambologna image, he's on his way from earth back to heaven, spiraling upward in a
flash on a gust of wind. When heading in the opposite direction, he was known as Hermes
psychopompos, the guide who led souls down to the underworld after death.
The Hermetic aspect our David figure is established partly by his sandals in association
withthewinggrowingoutofGoliath'shelmet,andpartlybythehatDavidwears.(Hermes,
notably, is the only Greek god who wears a hat. You can see a similar derby on a Hermes
statue in the upper-floor corridor of the Uffizi museum.) The stone that he holds in his hand
reminds us that he is David. But the substitution of the sword for the sling turns the image
subtlyinthedirectionofGreekmyth:thebroadswordandtheheadathisfeetalsoestablish
a resonance with the story of Hermes and the giant, Argus, whom Hermes decapitates. (If
you are familiar with Botticelli's Primavera , have another look at the young man standing