Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Michelangelo's David carries forward the core themes of Donatello's earlier works—the
fusion of the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman cultural streams into something greater
than the sum of their parts. Michelangelo found his own unique approach to affirming this
tradition. The Biblical half of the equation is clearly seen in the wary shepherd boy scan-
ning the horizon, looking for trouble that will come all too soon. The pagan half of the
equation is more subtly evoked. David stands in a position known as
contrapposto
where
most of the figure's weight rests on one leg. This was a pose widely used in classical sculp-
ture. He also stands naked and without shame, displaying bodily beauty and strength un-
selfconsciously, the way a Greek athlete might have done two thousand years earlier. And
he is enormously tall and powerful, more than humanly so.
It's easy to see the shepherd boy, but when you step back and contemplate this work, you
realize that this is only one half of the equation. Michelangelo's David is a fusion of a Bib-
lical shepherd boy and an Olympian god. And, by the principal of synecdoche whereby a
part represents the whole, as when a shoe over a doorway represents a shoe-repair shop, it's
David's penis that stands for the vital legacy of the Greco-Roman world.
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