3. Michelangelo’s David
In addition to being the immensely talented painter behind the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo was also an incredibly gifted sculptor. The statue of David was sculpted out of marble between 1501 and 1504. It is a 17-foot tall representation of the Biblical character David. The figure depicts David nude and holding a slingshot over his shoulder that contains a rock. It is unique among statues of the time in that David looks tense and alert, and not posed in a neutral state.
The block of marble used to sculpt David originally was intended to be used for two other statues for Michelangelo took possession of it. The marble was cut initially for the Italian sculptor Agostino di Duccio who intended to create a statue of the Roman hero Hercules. The sculpture had been requested for a Florentine cathedral, but di Duccio abandoned the project.
The massive block of marble sat unused for ten years before another Italian sculptor, this time Antonio Rossellino, decided to create something with it. It is not clear what Rosselino intended to craft out of the block, but he reportedly found marble to difficult to sculpt. It sat unused again for many years until Michelangelo found it and began creating one of the world’s most recognizable statues.
