David Michelangelo

David, who was destined to be the second king of Israel, destroyed the Philistine giant Goliath, with the help of a stone and a sling. . I will be showing how the sculpture of David by Michelangelo differs from the one made by Bernini and how remarkable these sculptures are since a large amount of information is portrayed and implied with the help of these sculptures. Michelangelo and Bernini both designed a sculpture of David. However, these sculptures are a lot different from one another. Each one is unique in its own way. Michelangelo was yet another artist who made the sculpture David. His reputation as a sculptor was established when he carved his David from a single piece of relatively unworkable marble. Unlike the David's that had been made by Donatello and Verrocchio, Michelangelo's David is not shown after conquering his enemy. He is shown as a beautiful animal preparing to not kill by savagery and brute force, but by intellect and skill. Cast over his shoulder is David's sling, and the stone is clutched in his right hand, his veins in chief anticipation of the fight. Michelangelo's David depicts a person who has just reached manhood and is capable of great physical and intellectual feats, which is part of the Classical tradition. Michelangelo's sculpture is closed in form, like Donatello's David. All the elements move firmly around a central axis. It is incredible that he has been able to make a sculpture from a single piece of marble.

Bernini's David is different from those of Donatello, Verrocchio and Michelangelo. Bernini did not emulate Michelangelo's posturing adolescent. His hero is full-grown and fully engaged, physically as well as psychologically. He takes aim and twists his tensed, muscular body a split second before slinging the stone, grasped in his left hand. David stands alone, but Goliath is simplicity envisioned directly behind the viewer. As a viewer, we are tempted to duck. It is the anticipation of violent action that heightens this confrontation as David's latent power is momentarily arrested. The symbolic nature of the sculpture is amazing as so much is portrayed with the help of a sculpture of David.

This sculpture includes three of the five characteristics of Baroque art: motion, a different way of looking at space and the introduction of the concept of time. Michelangelo on the other hand presented David before the battle, with the tension and emotion evident in every vein and muscle. Bernini does not depict David before or after the fight. He shows him in the process of the fight. This represents the element of time in his work. The views are forced to complete the action that David has begun for us. With David's positioning, a new concept of space comes into play. The figure does not remain still in a Classical contrapposto stance. It extends into the surrounding space away from a vertical axis. This movement outward from