Opera magazine
2016-08-23
A giant on the move: Michelangelo's David - part 2
In the previous post we told the story of a Carrara marble block more than of a statue. But in 1501 - finally! - Michelangelo is at work on that block: the David is on its way.
In the previous post we told the story of a Carrara marble block more than of a statue. But in 1501 - finally! - Michelangelo is at work on that block: the David is on its way.
The Operai of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the overseers of the Cathedral and its works, finally decided that it was time to use that marble.
A Giant in the making
The block laying in the workshops of the Cathedral was already been named “the giant”, and a giant it was indeed: it was nine braccia - literally arms.
Il braccio fiorentino - the Florentine Arm - was the medieval unit of measurement for a woolen cloth. The official length was carved in stone and you still find it in Via de’ Cerchi, not far from the Cathedral. The braccio is around 58cm / 22.8in, which makes the marble block 5.22mt / 17.1ft.
Leonardo or Michelangelo?
The Operai consulted Leonardo da Vinci as well, but we will never have a Leonardo’s David: Michelangelo convinces the Operai and he gets the contract (August 16th).
He has two years to finish the job, he will get six gold florins per month and he starts to work on September 13th.
On January 25th 1504 the statue is almost finished. Do you remember that the sculpture was supposed to be raised on the rooftop of the Cathedral?
How could you possibly raise six tons of marble on the rooftop of a cathedral before the Industrial Revolution?
You can’t.
Then the Operai summon a committee of eminent Florentines (among them Leonardo again, and Sandro Botticelli) to let them decide a site for the David.
The committee decision is to place the David at the entrance of the Palazzo dei Priori (Palazzo della Signoria, or Palazzo Vecchio).
Politics in XVI Century Florence
It is a political decision as well (we’ll see why). How could you possibly move the David statue - the Giant - for four hundred meters?
You can.
With forty men, a huge wooden cage and four days of work.
But David’s trouble are not over yet…
Freedom
The statue is immediately considered a symbol of freedom, above all freedom by the Medici family, at the moment exiled from Florence by the republican government: some Medici supporters attacked the statue at night, throwing stones at it.
Anyway in four days, on May 18th 1504, Michelangelo’s David will reach the Palazzo dei Priori. In 1512 it will be struck by lightning, but this will not prevent the David from becoming probably the most famous statue in the world.
