Who is David? Many might know him as a kid, a shepherd, a king, an adulterer, and more. He is a character in the bible who defeated Goliath, a Philistine giant, using a slingshot and stones. He is considered to be an ancestor of Jesus, which makes him a popular figure in the Christian world. He became an inspiration to many works of art. A bronze, life-size statue of David was sculpted by Donatello. He is an Italian sculptor and was the most influential individual artist of the fifteenth century in Italy. Donatello’s David’s earliest known reference was in 1469, when it was described as being in the center of the courtyard of the Medici Palace. However, no records of the statue show why or for whom it was created. Five centuries later, Donatello’s David is …show more content…
He can be seen as a woman, a man, or both with different age and race, a war figure or a peaceful figure, or a political figure depending on the person’s perspective. Looking at specific details of Donatello’s David and Michelangelo’s David, compare and contrast what each part means and discover the difference and similarities and what those means. The two statues of David by Donatello and Michelangelo, historically represent the height, start, and end of the Italian Renaissance, as well as two very different views on man’s interaction with God. Whenever artists interpret a subject that has received artistic interpretation previously, such as the young David from the Old Testament account, it's a tribute to the artists who have made the artistic interpretation before, as well as an updated cultural account on how things have changed since the last time the subject matter was utilized. Comparing the radically different presentations of David by these two artists illuminates otherwise un-documented shifts in believed each artist incorporates into their depiction of David and the heroic battle against