David (Donatello)

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Donatello, David
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
Height: 158 cm

The David of Donatello (in the literature Bronze David called) is a the time of the early Renaissance in Florence resulting bronze statue . It is the first sculpture since antiquity in which a life-size male nude was created in full view. The statue is one of the most important early Renaissance sculptures.

Emergence

The sculpture, which is 1.58 meters high without a base, was created, like many by Donatello, on behalf of Cosimo de 'Medici, around 1444 to 1446 according to recent findings. The older literature assumed it was written around 1430. It is not known exactly where it was cast because there are no written records of its origin.

Historical background

The enthusiasm of the early Renaissance for antiquity not only triggered a new boost in literature and architecture, which the Medici, namely Cosimo the Elder, safely brought together in Florence from around 1430 in the combination of humanism and art, but also led to a new interest in Anatomy. Thus "around 1440 (...) the basic concepts of human anatomy were as well known as the anatomy of space, which we call perspective". The nudity of the figure represents the ultimately clear reference to antiquity. Although there was generally a tendency to depict the human body in a more natural way than, for example, in Byzantine art , this was also the case with other artists of the time, such as Lorenzo Ghiberti and Luca della Robbia , Donatello, who had already gained experience with other sculptures, applied this new knowledge artistically more radically than the others: “Nobody had dared to depict a male nude figure in life-size, although Renaissance artists often sketched their models naked and added the clothes later. "

Description and interpretation

Donatello's David is a young man . With the exception of the hat adorned with a laurel wreath and the leather stockings, he is partly unclothed on Goliath's severed head .

What is special about the representation is not only the nudity of the sculpture, but the inner tension of the body in its posture, the so-called contraposto . The entire weight of the figure rests on the right standing leg, the left free leg stands almost casually on the head of the Goliath. This slight inclination of the hips dictated by the posture is countered by the opposite swing of the upright upper body. The left hand, placed slightly on the hip under the bent arm, holds the stone out of the sling . The motif of the firm right leg is repeated by the hand leaning on the sword. The head is turned slightly down to the left, facing the slain.

Donatello incorporated some unusual anatomical details, such as the wrinkles on the neck, left armpit and buttocks. The figure has an almost androgynous character due to the slight breast base and the feminine arching of the abdomen . This is also seen as an indication of Donatello's homosexuality . That it was latently widespread may stem from enthusiasm for ancient Greece.

Sites

Detail of the head of the London replica

After its completion, the figure was placed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici . The effect intended there was not only to present the value of the work of art, but also had a political-symbolic meaning as an allusion , namely to show the firmness of the Florentine Republic under the Medici against the rival great powers Naples or Milan . On December 9, 1495, the sculpture was taken from there to the courtyard of the Signoria's palace and erected there. On November 4, 1511, she was struck by lightning, which tore away and destroyed one of the four leaves or straps ( correggia ) attached to the base . The figure itself remained undamaged. Today it is located in the former seat of the mayor of Florence, the so-called Bargello , now the National Museum. A replica is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London .

aftermath

The figure became the model for a large number of other works of art. The first of these is David by Andrea del Verrocchio , 1476. He created is seen as a competing business. His most famous work is the David of Michelangelo worked from 1501. The fact that the figure was intended from the outset to be free and not, as hitherto usual, set in a niche that is seen as a move to the sculpture has broken away from architecture.

Trivia

An Italian film prize awarded since 1956 was named after the character David di Donatello .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Rolf Toman (Hrsg.): The art of the Italian Renaissance - architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing , Tandem Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4582-7 , p. 195
  2. ↑ Max Semrau: The art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the north , 3rd edition, Vol. III from Wilhelm Lübke: Grundriss der Kunstgeschichte , 14th edition, Paul Neff Verlag, Esslingen 1912, p. 121f.
  3. ↑ Stefano Zuffi: The Renaissance - Art, Architecture, History, Masterpieces , DuMont Buchverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8321-9113-9 , p. 88
  4. ↑ a b c Robert E. Wolf / Ronald Millen: Birth of the Modern Era , Art series, Naturalis Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-88703-705-7 , p. 41
  5. ↑ James Cleugh: The Medici - Splendor and Power of a European Family , 2nd edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-10318-3 , p. 63
  6. ↑ Will Durant: Shine and Decay of the Italian Renaissance , Volume 8 from Will and Ariel Durant: Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit , 1st edition, Südwest Verlag, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-517-00562-2 , pp. 341f.
  7. ↑ Luca Landucci: Florentine Diary , transl., Incorporated. and explain by Marie Herzfeld, Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1912, new edition, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf 1978, ISBN 3-424-00633-5 , p. 169
  8. ↑ Cambi quoted in: Luca Landucci: Florentinisches Tagebuch , transl., Incorporated. and explain by Marie Herzfeld, Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1912, new edition, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf 1978, ISBN 3-424-00633-5 , p. 202
  9. ↑ Luca Landucci: Florentine Diary , transl., Incorporated. and explain by Marie Herzfeld, Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1912, new edition, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf 1978, ISBN 3-424-00633-5 , p. 202
  10. ↑ Loretta Santini: Florence, The Cradle of Italian Art , Nova Lux, Giusti di Becocci, Florence 1973, p. 106
  11. ↑ James Cleugh: The Medici - Splendor and Power of a European Family , 2nd edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-10318-3 , p. 223
  12. ↑ James Cleugh: The Medici - Splendor and Power of a European Family , 2nd edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-10318-3 , p. 64

literature

  • James Cleugh: The Medici - Splendor and Power of a European Family , 2nd edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-423-10318-3
  • Will Durant: Splendor and Decay of the Italian Renaissance , Volume 8 from Will and Ariel Durant: Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit , 1st edition, Südwest Verlag, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-517-00562-2
  • Luca Landucci: Florentine diary , transl., Incorporated. and explain by Marie Herzfeld, Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1912, new edition, Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf 1978, ISBN 3-424-00633-5
  • Loretta Santini: Florence, The Cradle of Italian Art , Nova Lux, Giusti di Becocci, Florence 1973
  • Max Semrau: The art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the north , 3rd edition, Vol. III from Wilhelm Lübke: Grundriss der Kunstgeschichte , 14th edition, Paul Neff Verlag, Esslingen 1912
  • Rolf Toman (Ed.): The art of the Italian Renaissance - architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing , Tandem Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-8331-4582-7
  • Robert E. Wolf / Ronald Millen: Birth of the Modern Era , Art im Bild series, Naturalis Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-88703-705-7
  • Stefano Zuffi: The Renaissance - Art, Architecture, History, Masterpieces , DuMont Buchverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8321-9113-9