Donatello's David - Chapter 19

According to Cole and Gealt the most famous sculpture commissioned for personal enjoyment is Donatello’s David. It was probably made in 1440 for Cosimo de’Medici (98). This figure was the most advanced, sensitive and beautiful; it’s portrayal of the nude human body (98). This life size sculpture was the first so be seen in the round since the ‘ancients made the human form their principal subject over thousands of years before (99). Cole and Gealt state that it “stands before the viewer independent of any justification except itself, and unabashedly nude” (98).
The statute is bronze and 5’ 2 ¼”. It is in Florence, and although I have been to Italy I did not see this statute.
It is believed that it stood in the atrium of the Palazzo Medici. David was probably situated so that he functioned as both private and a public image (100). David’s nudity underscored his moral victory; he won because God was on his side.
The base was inscribed:

“The victor is whoever defends the fatherland.
All-power God crushes the angry enemy.
Behold, a boy overcomes the great tyrant.
Conquer, O citizens!”

The boy is nude and only wearing a strange hat and tall boots. He is standing on a giant’s severed head and the helmet of the giant is going up David’s backside of his leg. The stance is non muscular; and he looks about 13 years old. He holds a feminine quality about him. The long nose looks straight and feminine. It looks as though his hair is long and he is holding something in his hand.

Stockstad states that “Donatello excelled for three reasons: his constant exploration of human emotions and expressions; his vision and insight in representing the formal problems inherent n his subjects; and his ability to solve the technical problems posed by various mediums, from bronze and marble to polychromed wood” (631).
The inscription suggests that he celebrated the triumph of Goliath.
Donatello ‘demonstrated his familiarity with antiquity, his understanding of narrative, and his knowledge of the human anatomy’ (100).


Art Of The Western World, Bruce Cole and Adelheid Gealt
Art History, Marilyn Stockstad