This was a sculpture that was created in the 1500s by Michelangelo,
who was at that time commissioned to paint in Rome. He was invited to Florence
to have a look at this huge boulder of marble that was procured with the
intention of sculpting. Many famous and skilled artists were invited to look at
this before him but they all shied away from the proposition. The challenge was
that this beautiful rock was riddled with innumerable pores. One strike of the
chisel and mallet and the entire thing would crumble.
This was the reason that David became another feather in
Michelangelo’s very feathered hat! Now only did he free the beautiful image
from the stone in one single piece, he also used it to convey the message of
Mankind.
David, initially critised for the disproportionate head and
forearms with relation to the rest of the body, was later heralded as the true
representation of the human race. The size of the head depicts the power of
knowledge and education. The sheer brain power which defines human beings. And
the size of the forearms and hands symbolises the Power of hard work and
labour. The ability to get better at anything that we keep doing, the adjunct
of how practice makes perfect (that’s my personal interpretation).
David thus is symbolic of the fragility and determination, the
brain and the brawn, all in all the miracle that human life is!
That’s another thing I learnt. In the olden times when people
got themselves painted and sculpted, they insisted on this one very interesting
aspect. The men are always shown with small penises. They believed that the
size of their head should draw more attention than any other part of their
body, including their height or musculature or their penis. It was to show that
their mind and brain is way stronger and mightier, and they wanted to be remembered
by history for that instead of anything else!
How times have changed. The only constant remains our vanity
and the need to be appreciated and our desire to leave a legacy. That’s food
for thought
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