{"id":14899,"date":"2023-08-28T11:45:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T09:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.galleriabazzanti.it\/il-verrocchio-e-il-suo-david\/"},"modified":"2023-08-31T19:14:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T17:14:51","slug":"verrocchio-and-his-david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.galleriabazzanti.it\/en\/verrocchio-and-his-david\/","title":{"rendered":"Verrocchio and his David"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1692280116304{padding-top: 300px !important;padding-bottom: 300px !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/www.galleriabazzanti.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/blog-david-verrocchio-sfondo00.jpg?id=14746) !important;}”][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Verrocchio and his David” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”titolo-articolo”][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”David in the Middle Ages<\/b>” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
But around 1330 in Florence in the fresco by Taddeo Gaddi, David appears for the first time young and beardless, in a short tunic, with the decapitated body of Goliath at his feet, and in his hand he holds the severed head of the slain Giant; in his other hand he has the sword with which he cut off his head and from his belt dangles the sling with a stone. This iconography in Florence will no longer be abandoned in Renaissance sculptures.<\/p>\n
Taddeo Gaddi, 1330, Baroncelli Chapel, S. Croce, Florence<\/em><\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The David symbol of the Florentine Republic<\/b>” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The David as decoration<\/b>” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
From the second half of the 15th century the scene of David killing Goliath appears on chests, birth trays and other artefacts, in some cases he is fully clothed, in others he has only his legs uncovered. On a desco da parto (c. 1480) he is kneeling as he is about to decapitate the giant; on the first wedding chest (c. 1460) three moments are described: David with bare legs, short dress, shoes and cloak collects stones to throw with a slingshot; then David who is about to throw the stone with a sling against the giant Goliath; and in the center of the chest David beheads Goliath with the sword. \nOn the second chest David is triumphant in a chariot holding Goliath’s head by the hair.<\/p>\n
Wedding Chest with Triumph of David, ca. 1460, National Gallery, London<\/em><\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
In a parade shield painted by Andrea del Castagno around 1455. David is haired, dressed but with bare legs and holds the sling, and between his legs has the head of Goliath.<\/p>\n
Around 1475 Andrea del Verrocchio models and casts one of his Davids in lost wax bronze. It is natural that he looks at the elegant and admired bronze David created by Donatello. And he resumes the pose: the left arm bent and resting at his side, with the sword in the right hand, the weight of the body resting on the right leg and the left leg slightly bent. The novelty of the sculpture is the dynamism and the sense of life that Verrocchio manages to give to his David also using the sword that is kept filling the space away from the body. \nHis David is very young, his bare head has allowed the sculptor to give him a thick mane of hair, his mouth hints at a very slight smile of satisfaction, satisfaction also present in his gaze. Compared to Donatello’s hero, Verrocchio’s David is sunny, shrewd, more direct and certain.<\/p>\n
He is not naked, but is clad in a thin (leather?) armor that perfectly follows his features and leaves his legs bare; he is no longer a shepherd in fact he wears a military-style robe and<\/p>\n
Verrocchio<\/strong> modeled the head of Goliath so that it could be cast separately from the statue of David. In fact, it is probable that initially he had wanted to place it not between David’s legs but laterally to his right. In some manuscript miniatures, deriving from this David having the same type of armor that covers him, the head of the Goliath is placed to the side, something never happened before; in particular in the miniature of Mariano del Buono of 1465-1470 and that of Attavante of 1470-1480.<\/p>\n
Mariano del Buono, miniature with David, ca. 1464-1470, Victoria and Albert Museum<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Attavante, miniature with David and Goliath, c. 1470-1480, Zamek Krolewski, Warsaw<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”The David on one of the wedding chests<\/b>” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
And again in the wedding chest of the Master of Stratonice from around 1470 the sculpture of David on the high base has the head of Goliath on the left side.<\/p>\n
Verrocchio, workshop, c. 1470, Louvre<\/em><\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
E\u2019 plausibile pensare che quando nel 10 maggio del 1476 la statua venne ceduta per 150 fiorini da Lorenzo e Giuliano dei Medici alla Signoria di Firenze, prezzo politico di grande favore (come ci dice il Gaye nel suo Carteggio inedito d\u2019 artisti dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI) il Verrocchio<\/strong> abbia spostato la testa del David dal lato al centro delle gambe.<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_images_carousel images=”14893″ img_size=”post-slide” hide_pagination_control=”yes” hide_prev_next_buttons=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”The conspiracy of the Picts<\/b>” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Piero dei Medici the Gouty on the death of his father Cosimo the Elder in 1464 took over the family business; it was then that his political enemies led by the Pitti family prepared a conspiracy to kill him in 1466, which Piero thwarted, capturing and exiling the organizers. \nVery probably the figure of David by Verrocchio who kills the enemy by placing him in his own palace in via Larga where Donatello’s David was already on display in the courtyard was chosen as a symbol of Medici power.<\/p>\n
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1692280116304{padding-top: 300px !important;padding-bottom: 300px !important;background-image: url(https:\/\/www.galleriabazzanti.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/blog-david-verrocchio-sfondo00.jpg?id=14746) !important;}”][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Verrocchio and his David” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” el_class=”titolo-articolo”][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”David in the Middle Ages” font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:18|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text] 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-articolo.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Verrocchio and his David - Bazzanti Art Gallery Florence<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n