Summary Of Donatello's David Statues

David is a character so iconic and beloved by the christian people that despite not knowing what he actually looked like, artists throughout history have erected many statues in his honor. In this essay I will present a comparison of three statues of David. In chronological order we will look at the David statues of Donatello, Andrea Del Verrocchio and Michelangelo finding similarities and differences in the various aspects of these statues.

Donatello's "David" was his landmark work, the first work of its kind in over a thousand years, and helped to cement his reputation as an artist of extraordinary skill. His work presents us with a childlike David standing victoriously after his famous battle. He wields a sword in his right hand,
At just over 4 feet tall his work presents us with a developing young man standing victoriously with a sword in his right hand and Goliath's decapitated head lying between his feet. While not as well known as the other two Davids mentioned in this essay Verricchio's proud, athletic figure with an extreme attention to detail is deserving of equal praise. Verricchio created this statue with a preferable style of metal casting called Cire perdue. Cire perdue involves creating a mold around a wax sculpture followed by wrapping it in a cast then melting the wax away and replacing it with metal. Casting in this manner allowed Verrocchio to make the hard edges and smooth flowing body along with the seamless curls in the
Even though they all depict the same subject of David in heroic contrapposto poses, Michelangelo diverges from his predecessors works. While their Davids are depicted as being young and effeminate boys holding swords, his own depiction shows us a figure of a grown David holding only a stone and his slingshot. While Verrocchio and Donatello gave there Davids a victorious stance and proud enigmatic expressions, Michelangelo created a somber and more thoughtful David; one that is concentrating on the extreme situation ahead of him. Lastly I will talk about the size of Michelangelo's David. Rendered as a giant nearly 17 feet tall, this statue was originally meant to be placed high upon the Florence cathedral. The size of this David changes how we used to view David as being a underdog and a child, and causes us to see him as a protector concentrating on an unseen threat. I stated in my thesis that each of the Davids we are analyzing are unique in some way but Michelangelo David is the black sheep in comparison with the other's creations. Where Verrocchio and Donatello made a bronze cast depiction of a life size young and effeminate David, Michelangelo created a powerful giant and thoughtful protector. By adding such detail and realism in his depiction of David Michelangelo created one of the most well known and powerful statues known to today