Description
In July 1501, Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo to create a statue depicting David and Goliath, using a large block of marble that had been abandoned at the Cathedral workshop; this block had already been roughly hewn about forty years earlier by the sculptor Agostino di Duccio in an attempt to carve the same subject. This was a challenge for Michelangelo, who was “only” twenty-six years old and had just returned from Rome, where he had created his first masterpiece: the Pietà, now housed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Michelangelo spent eighteen months carving the massive marble block, working alone and hidden behind a wooden enclosure so that no one could see the statue before it was finished.
Michelangelo’s *David* is considered a masterpiece of world sculpture; it is an emblem of the Renaissance and a symbol of Florence and Italy throughout the world.
