Hi ken626,
Thank you for an interesting question.
Florence
http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=florence@63&cur_section=sig&property_id=76245
Galleria dell'Accademia - Museum/Gallery, San Marco
"As Michelangelo well knew, the Renaissance painting and sculpture
that preceded his work were deeply concerned with ideal form.
Perfection of proportion was the ever-sought Holy Grail; during the
Renaissance, ideal proportion was equated with ideal beauty, and ideal
beauty was equated with spiritual perfection. But David, despite its
supremely calm and dignified pose, departs from these ideals.
Michelangelo did not give the statue perfect proportions. The head is
slightly too large for the body, the arms are too large for the torso,
and the hands are dramatically large for the arms. The work was
originally commissioned to adorn the facade of the Duomo and was
intended to be seen from below at a distance. Michelangelo knew
exactly what he was doing, calculating that the perspective of the
viewer would be such that, in order for the statue to appear properly
proportioned, the upper body, head, and arms would have to be bigger,
as they are farther away from the viewer's line of vision. But he also
did it to express and embody, as powerfully as possible in a single
figure, an entire biblical story. David's hands are big, but so was
Goliath, and these are the hands that slew him."
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Michelangelo
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560125_2/Michelangelo.html
"While David reveals Michelangelo's expert knowledge of anatomy (he
had been dissecting corpses for about five years), the head and hands
are much too large in comparison with the torso. Critics have
suggested several reasons for this inconsistency, but the most
convincing is that the statue was originally intended for the roof of
the Florence Cathedral, and exaggerating the head and hands made them
more visible from a distance."
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http://mil.ccc.cccd.edu/classes/art101/module4.htm
"Note: Notice how the hands and the head seem very large. Orginally
the statue was to be placed on a roof."
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Looking for David?: Galleria dell' Academia
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence-151105/Things_To_Do-Florence-Looking_for_David-BR-5.html
"This must see museum of the renassaince is packed so arrive early.
You can see the works of Michelangelo, [...] The sculptures were
absolutely stunning. The age of the works is priceless as well. In
this picture of David it was brought to my attention that the hands
are rather large. That was to enhance the detail of them."
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keyword search:
Michelangelo's David large hands
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Best regards,
tlspiegel |
