Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Michelangelo Buonarroti : Compare and Contrast David

This paper will focus on Bernini’s and Michelangelo’s work of art called David. The works of both artists are incredible, beautiful, and breathtaking. The works have interpretations of mythologies and Old Testament stories that originated millenniums ago. Both artists had the ability to produce such rich and poignant emotional content; their works are still able to invoke a deeply affecting response in viewers today. Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, at Caprese, in Tuscany (Michelangelo). He was the second of five brothers. Michelangelo lost his mother at the early age of 6. After his mothers passing Michelangelo had a neglected childhood. Throughout his childhood he managed to remain quiet and keep to himself. However, the boy was very intelligent and his father recognized this and sent him off to school (Michelangelo). Michelangelo is known as one of the greatest artists of all time.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was born on November 7, 1598 in Naples and thrived as a Baroque sculptor from the approximate age of eight until his death in 1680. The Baroque style Bernini encompassed was an artistic movement inspired by the Catholic Church after the Counter-Reformation. Baroque sculptures provide a range of viewpoints. Bernini’s Borghese works were similar to performances rather than a sculpture frozen in time (Bernini’s Borghese Sculptures: Another View). His influences included Renaissance masters Raphael and Michelangelo Buonarotti as well as hellenistic sculptures of antiquity, such as: the Laucoön and the Belvedere Torso (Hibbard). His father, Pietro, was his teacher (Hibbard). Pietro was a late-mannerist painter and sculptor and was also influential to Gian Lorenzo. Gian Lorenzo took the realistic qualities of the Manierra and applied a style in his work that appealed to the senses.
When Michelangelo was an early teen his father agreed to apprentice in the workshop of painter Deomenico Ghirlandaio which outraged Michelangelo. After about a year of learning fresco art, Michelangelo went on to become interested in sculpture and study it. He went to the sculpture school located at the Medici gardens and shortly thereafter was invited into the home of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Magnificent (Michelangelo). By the age of 16, Michelangelo produced at least two relief sculptures, which was amazing for his age. He had shown that he had achieved a personal style at a precocious age (Michelangelo). Michelangelo then went to Rome, where he evaluated and learned from many classical statues and ruins. He then, soon after, decided to produce his first large-scale sculpture. It was the over-life-size Bacchus. One of the few works of pagan rather than Christian subject matter made by the master, it rivaled ancient statuary, the highest mark of admiration in Renaissance Rome (Michelangelo). At roughly the same time, Michelangelo did the marble Pieta. It is one of the most famous works of art and it still rests in its original place in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Pieta is said to be finished before Michelangelo was age 25. A few days after the sculpture was placed in Saint Peter’s, a pilgrim remarked that the work was done by Chrisoforo Solari, a man from Lombard (Michelangelo). That statement outraged Michelangelo and he took a hammer and chisel and placed his name on the work. Pieta was the only work of art that Michelangelo placed his name on.
At the age of eight, Gian Lorenzo sculpted his first known work of a marble angel head (Bauer). Gian Lorenzo was introduced to Pope Paul V, according to Cardinal Scipioni Broghese’s request, at the age of 10. The Pope was so impressed with Gian Lorenzo, he said “this child will be the Michelangelo of his age” and he then became known in Rome as a child with “great promise” (The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini). After studying hellenistic sculptures from antiquity in the Vatican, he sculpted The Goat Amalthea with the Infant Jupiter and a Faun at around the age of 10. Other artists began to to take notice Lorenzo’s talent. Annibale Carracci, whose painting of Polyphemus would be a prototype to Bernini’s David, was an Italian Baroque painter. He once commented that Gian Lorenzo was far beyond his age in talent. For three straight years, Gian Lorenzo spent every day in the Vatican studying antiquity and perfecting his craft. Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael and the hellenistic works, located in the Vatican, continued to influence Bernini as he formed his own Baroque esthetic. Michelangelo created a 17 foot marble statue which shows a nude male with a body that appears chiseled from stone. The statue is made in honor of the biblical hero David. This statue was originally meant to be a series of statues that would be on the roof of the Florence Cathedral (Colorado). However, after the piece was viewed by many, they thought it would be a waste hiding the work up there. Instead they placed the statue outside of the Palazzo della Signoria on September 8th 1504 (Michelangelo). It was later moved and displayed in the Accademia Gallery, Florence, where it attracts many visitors.

The character of David and what the statue symbolizes goes hand in hand with Michelangelo’s patriotic feelings. At the time, Florence was going through a difficult time and was facing threats. He used David as a model of a hero hoping to send a message to the Florentines (Michelangelo). This young hero showed that inner strength, especially spiritual strength can prove to be more effective than war. Michelangelo represented the hero David as an athletic, fit, and manly character. The statue appears as if David is ready to fight. Another reason it appears as if he is ready to fight is the stone in his right hand. David was a gallery piece that was magnificent. However, I believe his upper body and head are both out of proportion with the rest of his body. The out of proportion body is very odd and different for the Renaissance being known for perfect harmony. Bernini knew that the biblical David was a popular subject among artists in his era and had already been created already by sculptors such as Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo. Bernini engaged with these works by other artists but also differed with them in numerous ways. One item is the sculpture was no longer self-contained but also brings in the open space around the sculpture. Bernini involved the surroundings better than many in his era.
Bernini's David, though engaging with these works, differed from them in some significant ways. A big difference lies between Bernini and Michelangelo is the moment that the sculptures depict. Michelangelo’s David appears to show David prepping for the battle that waits. Bernini chose to show David in the act of the throwing the stone. The differences between Bernini’s Baroque style and Michelangelo’s Renaissance style are clearly apparent in their individual representations of David. Bernini’s David stood 5 feet and 7 inches tall and is much more true to human size than Michelangelo’s idealized David of 17 feet, which demonstrates a basic difference between the Baroque realistic interpretations and the larger than life interpretations of the Renaissance and disproportionate work of the Mannerist period (Bernini: David). One similar aspect of these two pieces is that both Michelangelo’s David and Bernini’s David represent not a boy of 13-16 years of age, but a man much older and wiser. Bernini’s David, unlike Michelangelo’s David, is captured in the middle of an act. David is pulling back on the intricately carved sling getting ready to launch the rock that kills Goliath while the armor, too large for the boy to wear, laid on the ground next to his harp (Hidden symbolism in Bernini’s ‘David). David’s facial expression shows intense emotion as he faces his greatest challenge. “A single, heightened moment in time is conveyed even more dramatically by the David than by the Apollo and Daphne or the other groups; the decisive action is not taking place but about to occur”(Hibbard Pg 55 p2). In Michelangelo’s piece, David is stationary and is shown prior to killing Goliath. Other Renaissance portrayals of David show the moment after the slaying of Goliath or a period of time leading up to the act which makes Bernini’s model different and advantageous of baroque art. Hibbard expressed in his book that “The David’s unification of real and artistic space stands at the core of much Baroque art in succeeding years.”(Hibbard 57 p2) which expresses how formidable Bernini was to the Baroque style. Bernini’s ability to evaluate his own emotions and incorporate them into his work was indicative to this era of art but also to his own personal style and was a tool he used in several of his earlier pieces of art, including David. The face of Michelangelo’s David is focussed and there is minimal expression compared to the face of Bernini’s David, which is believed to be a self portrait of the artist, showing extreme concentration and intensity. (On Physiognomic Communication in Bernini). Bernini also used the technique of utilizing his own emotions to represent a feeling in his sculptures of St. Lawrence and the Damned Soul. Bernini had many influences in his early adult and Bernini’s David may have also been modeled after the work of Baroque predecessor Annibale Carracci’s painting of Polyphemus located at the Farnese Gallery. The stance Polyphemus is taking as he’s about to throw the rock is oddly familiar to that of Bernini’s David and they also exude similar facial intensity (Hidden symbolism in Bernini’s ‘David). Bernini’s David was another example of his personal style and contribution to Baroque art. I prefer the art work of Bernini because of him portraying David in the act. Michelangelo’s David differs from previous representations. Most people consider that the work depicts David before the mammoth battle with Goliath. His neck looks veiny and tendons and stand out. His legs are very muscular and tight. His facial expressions are fierce and seem to be focusing on something out in the distance. Veins are also bulging out of his right hand, but his body is fairly relaxed as he carries his sling over his shoulder. The pose Michelangelo depicts is unlike any previous David. Also, it is very different than Bernini’s. Michelangelo makes it appear as if David is calm before the storm. Whereas, Bernini has David in the act of fighting.
Michelangelo's David is a Renaissance interpretation of a common ancient Greek theme of the standing heroic male nude. In David, the figure stands with one leg holding its full weight and the other leg relaxed. This classic pose causes the figure’s hips and shoulders to rest at opposite angles, giving a slight curve to the entire torso. Michelangelo has the head turned to the left while the left arm is raised to his left shoulder with his sling flung down behind his back. Michelangelo’s David has become one of the most recognized works of Renaissance sculpture, becoming a symbol of both strength and youthful human beauty (Michelangelo).

It was the colossal size of the statue that most impressed Michelangelo's contemporaries, however (Michelangelo). The statue is very slender in comparison to its height. Gian Lorenzo Bernini went on to have an extremely long and prosperous career. His style, over the years, transformed as he matured, however, his ability to incorporate his emotions into his artwork was consistent. Pluto and Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, and David are more than just statues, distant and removed from reality, but are characters acting out scenes of a play, inviting the viewer to take part. His ability to include his own emotions make his characters humanlike and relatable, which in my belief, is why his work continues to marvel people of all ages today. Michelangelo was known and still is known as one of the greatest artists of all time. David was his most popular work of art during his career. However, other great works included The Holy Family, Creation of the Sun and Moon, The Separation of Light from the Darkness, and Delppphes Sylphide. Michelangelo died on February 18th 1564 in Rome but has given inspiration to coming generations.