The three statues of David: Florence’s Bargello Museum
Welcome to the Hall of Donatello in Florence’s Bargello Museum..! Now one of the most important museums in the world, it was once known as the starting point for Florentine political civilization and culture. Later, it would become the home to many significant works of Renaissance art, which are still preserved there today: including the three celebrated statues of David..!
Once known as the Palace of the Capitano del Popolo – the first-ever seat of Florence’s communal government – the building then became the Palace of the Chief Magistrate (or the Palazzo del Potestà). Today, the Bargello Museum is now named after its eponymous military captain. Part of this palace’s Hall of Council now forms the striking Hall of Donatello. During the s, the Hall of Council was used as a detention facility with over thirty cells: prisoners were held here in incredibly harsh conditions..!
But today, the hall houses some of the most important statues and artworks from the s. Primarily, it is home to the works of Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi. Also known as Donatello, this artist
Verrocchio and his David
David in the Middle Ages
The figure of the biblical David has fascinated the Florentines in a particular way since the Middle Ages. In the Old Testament he is described very well, better than most other prophets have been. Among the peculiar characteristics of him at the moment in which he kills the giant Goliath six cubits and a palm tall is his young age, so much so that he cannot yet be part of the army, his lack of physical prowess, his intelligence that wins over brute force. He is not a saint, on the contrary he has the vices of men when he takes Bathsheba as wife of Uriah whom he then kills, he has corrupt and delinquent illegitimate children, except the wise Solomon. He defeats the Philistines allowing the birth of the Kingdom of Israel.
The David in miniatures
In the miniatures that decorate the medieval Bibles he is represented precisely as a young man with a slingshot that attacks and kills Goliath.
David as prophet
In the fourteenth century, in the bell tower of the Florence Cathedral, Andrea Pisano represented him as a prophet and king, not young but bearded, without slingshot or sword and without allusions to Goliath a
Il David di Verrocchio: Capolavoro del Rinascimento Fiorentino
Durante la mia visita alla recente mostra su Andrea del Verrocchio () a Palazzo Strozzi di Firenze, ho avuto modo di ammirare e di fotografare il suo David, un’opera straordinaria che l’artista eseguì con una unica gettata in bronzo, tranne la testa di Golia che fu fusa separatamente, tecnica questa notevole per quell’epoca.
La sua datazione, come l’individuazione del committente, è controversa anche se sembra assodato che sia stata ordinata da componenti della famiglia de’ Medici: Tommaso Verrocchio in un elenco, redatto nel , di opere eseguite dal fratello Andrea per i Medici, annotava il fatto che la statua del David “non era ancora pagata“, mentre Giorgio Vasari (), a cui dobbiamo con il trattato “Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architettori italiani, da Cimabue insino a’ tempi nostri” numerore informazioni e pettegolezzi, pubblicato nel e riedito con aggiunte nel , ritiene la datazione della scultura successiva a un soggiorno di Andrea del Verrocchio a Roma avvenuto intorno ai primi anni del
Probabilmente fu ordinata da Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici detto il Gottoso (), forse desiderando un David al
This statue was commissioned by the Medici family and it was sold by them in to the Signoria, the ruling body of Florence, and placed in the Palazzo Vecchio, thus gaining a republican meaning similar to Donatello's David. Here the similarity ends. There is no doubt that Verrocchio's proud hero was capable of slaying the giant. The explicitness and angularity contrast with the ambiguity and sensuousness of Donatello's - nude and vulnerable while Verrocchio's is elegantly clothed. He carries a small sword in one hand and, with his other confidently poised on his hip, looks triumphantly out at the viewer. The figure, to be viewed in the round, lacks the anatomical exaggerations and the psychological implications or complexity of Donatello's. It is, rather, perfectly chased and was meant to be appreciated for its exquisite patina.
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