Object Description
A well detailed late 19th century scale copy of the antique Michelangelo’s David. This Victorian plaster statue would look stunning displayed for all to see and admire. This sculpture is exceptionally carved, capturing the quality and detail of the Michelangelo’s David in superb detail.
Michelangelo’s David
Michelangelo’s Buonarroti (1475 – 1564), only in his early 20s, was commissioned to create a statue representing the biblical hero of David.
He was offered a colossal block of marble which had been previously worked by two other artists, Agostino di Duccio (in 1464) and Antonio Rossellino (in 1475). After noticing imperfections in the marble’s grain, it has previously been abandoned.
But Michelangelo took up the monumental challenge of carving the figure despite this.
David was initially intended for the roof space of Opera del Duomo, the cathedral in Florence, but, on seeing the finished piece, the council committee chose to display it outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall, at the Piazza della Signoria instead.
Installing the sculpture involved suspending the figure on a wooden scaffold, it was then pulled on a series of tracks from the Duomo to the piazza where it was placed on a marble plinth and finished off by Michelangelo.