After you've seen him from the front, go inside the Tribune and admire David from several points of view and from different distances. You will uncover a masterpiece that continually offers you interesting ideas and unexpected details, and you'll understand why David is something more than a perfectly successful masterpiece from a precise era of history and art, and has become a timeless icon capable of resisting even the most absurd and vulgar reproductions and revisions. The physical and symbolic greatness of this warrior with a slingshot is so enormous that it always provokes strong reactions, sometimes even violent.
Can you imagine that according to the original project, this colossus should now be more than eighty feet high up, almost at the top of the Cathedral?! David was never actually placed where he was originally intended to stand. After three years of intense work, when the city authorities finally saw the statue they immediately realized that they needed to find it an alternative home. In fact, no other sculpture could ever represent the Republic's values with the same overwhelming power. A commission of artists was immediately appointed, including those of the caliber of Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, who were assigned the task of deciding where to place the work. After long and heated discussions, David was placed in front of Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of the city government, where you can still admire it today, albeit as a copy. In that spot, Michelangelo's work would become the emblem of republican virtues and freedom against tyranny.
Before being placed in Piazza della Signoria, the Giant, as he was immediately nicknamed by the Florentines, had to face yet another undertaking: getting from A to B. Wrapped in a wooden structure, David was rolled over soaped-up, slippery tree trunks all the way to the square where he would remain for over three centuries.
FUN FACT: you might be wondering why the city eventually decided to move the statue indoors. The poor quality of the marble made it so the statue was easily damaged by rain, wind, and air pollution. But moving it again was a very laborious task: a small train track was built that David was then slid along after carefully being wrapped. Just think, to get the enormous convoy past, they even had to take down the corner of a building!
Language: English