Il nudo maschile nella statuaria italiana: il "David" di Donatello (Bargello) -- in the round, life-size

Speranza

The best that Donatello saw and searched for in the antique was not subject but FORM.

The work which appears most classical to us is the bronze "David" in the Bargello.

We have no date to work upon, since Vasari's account, which connects the removal of this statue from the court of the Casa Medici to that of the Palazzo Vecchio with the banishment of Cosimo in 1433 is based on error.

The bronze "David" did NOT get ino the Palazzo Vecchio BEFORE 1495.

----

To embody the youthful male with the elastic capacity of movement in a 'standing figure' was Donatello's aim in the marble David of the Bargello (1408).

The "David" is conceived for the first time as a STATUE IN THE ROUND, in the sense of ANTIQUE sculpture.

----

Furthermore, this David is a life-size statue.

And it is the FIRST nude -- which again distinctly approaches the antique ideal of beauty.

----

With what natural ease the back of the left hand with the stone is pressed against the hop, and how gracefully the right is holding the sword!

----

There are antecedents in the ISAAC -- (Ghiberti, Donatello).

But Isaac has NOBLER blood in his veins, no doubt a reflection of the knowledge of antique statues.

----

Cfr. Verrocchio's smiling "David" in the Bargello -- one of the most delicious, vernal blossoms of the tree of modern humanity.

Donatello's "David", in contrast, has a slight touch of 'classicist coldness' about him.

----