Donatello's David

Donatello’s David I have chosen Donatello’s David as the source of analysis for this paper. David was designed and created by Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, but he was known as Donatello. Donatello was an early Renaissance Italian painter and sculptor from Florence. He was known for utilizing perspective illusion in his work. David was perhaps one of the greatest sculptor created during the Renaissance period and was also the first large-scale bronze nude statue of that time. David was a nude bronze statue that used the method of Contrapposto. Contrapposto was an art method that used one particular pose. This pose depicted the subject with their weight shifted to one leg, causing that leg to appear rigid with its knee locked, and their other foot flat on the ground with their hip thrust out a bit. By using bronze, the nudity, and the contrapposto pose, Donatello was able to put David in a Humanistic context. This statue shows David standing after a triumphant battle between Goliath and him. It shows David standing atop Goliath’s severed head. You can see some feminine features when looking at David. David is not completely naked, because he wears a hat that’s made of straw, and a pair of boots on his legs. When people thing about David, they tend to think about Michelangelo’s David versus any other artist rendition of David. I am going to compare the differences between three such David’s; Michelangelo’s, Donatello’s, and Bernini. The first comparison is the time period that each David was conceived; Bernini created his in 1623 and 1624, Donatello created his during the 1430’s, and Michelangelo created his during the 1500’s. This represents three different time periods and three distinct artists.

Donatello’s and Bernini’s David’s were small compared to Michelangelo’s David, the difference between five feet as opposed to seventeen feet. Michelangelo’s and Bernini’s David were both created out of Marble, while Donatello’s David was made of bronze.

Bibliography: The Art Bulletin, March 01, 2001, McHam, Sarah Blake Donatello’s Bronze David; Laurie Schneider - College Art Association - 1973 - 22nd Ed. - Vol. 55 – JSTOR Adrian W.B. Randolph, Engaging Symbols: Gender, Politics, and Public Life in Fifteenth-Century Florence World Art Treasures (ed. Geoffrey Hindley), Octopus Books, 1979 "Bernini 's David"; Smart history at Khan Academy “Donatello’s David”; Smart History at Khan Academy Wittkower, Rudolph (1997). Bernini: The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque (4th ed.). London: Phaidon Press