Verrocchio, David, c. 1465, Bargello, Firenze

Speranza



The mysterious smile of Verrocchio's "david" perhaps anticipates that of the Mona Lisa.

It might be that the artist gave to the conqueror of Goliath the face of his young pupil Leonardo da Vinci.

But that as it may, Verrocchio took is inspiration from antoher David, exectued by Donatell twenty years before and which had been the first nude statue since ancient times.

In contrast to Donatello, Verrocchio dressed David in a short tunic.

This shows off the body and emphasises its elegance.

It is the beauty of the body taht, according to the classical conception, constitutes the beauty of the whole work.

But by its tense and sinuous grace it is a true product of the refined Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent and not of Imperial Rome.

Like his contemporaries, Verrocchio knew Roman statuary only in a fragmentary way, and Greek art only through books.

In trying to imitate them, he reinvented them.