Posted on 09/07/2004 7:00:47 AM PDT by presidio9
This September 8 marks the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s “David,” one of art-history’s greatest masterpieces. Crowds of visitors have been drawn to Florence to experience this magnificent sculpture over the past 500 years--and they continue to visit in record numbers. Why does a work of art created half a millennium ago possess such a timeless, universal appeal? What meaning does this 500-year-old sculpture hold for modern-day man?
To answer these questions, consider the significance of Michelangelo’s “David” to the Renaissance Florentines who first revered it.
During the 1000 years preceding the Renaissance, the West had been mired in the medieval Christian worldview, which divided the universe into two spheres: a heavenly realm of perfection, happiness and truth, and this dark world of imperfection, misery and falsehood. Man, forever paying for his crime of Original Sin, was regarded as powerless and ignorant, with blind obedience to God and his earthly spokesmen as his only recourse.
As expressed by one of the leading Christians of the time, Saint Augustine, man is “crooked and sordid, bespotted and ulcerous.” Consequently, man as depicted in medieval art is a deformed beast, wailing for the salvation of his soul. At best, the human ideal was represented as a bloody, beaten and crucified Jesus Christ; a man who resigned himself to his preordained fate: a violent, sacrificial death.
The Renaissance was the rebirth of man’s life on earth. Freed from the shackles of authority, man’s mind was viewed as able to understand the universe. Far from being a tortured soul trapped in a deformed bodily prison, man was regarded as rational, beautiful and heroic--worthy of happiness and capable of great achievement. Man, in the Renaissance view, need not bow down in passive resignation, praying for salvation. He can choose to undertake great challenges in the face of seemingly impossible odds; he can actively pursue success, fight for victory--even slay a giant.
Michelangelo’s “David” is the best expression of this Renaissance sense of life. The sculpture was inspired by the story of the young shepherd boy who chose to fight a far stronger adversary in order to save his people from invasion. Wearing no armor, with a sling as his only weapon, David defeats Goliath using superior skill and courage.
Although there had been many earlier portrayals of David in art, Michelangelo’s was revolutionary. The others depict David after the battle had been won--often standing on the severed head of a defeated Goliath. Michelangelo chose to show David not in victory, but at that point in time that prefigured victory: in that instance between conscious choice and conscious action, that moment when an individual makes a choice--and commits to act on that choice. David stands, with furrowed brow, looking over his left shoulder into the distance for Goliath. Michelangelo shows David not as a triumphant victor, but as a thinking, resolute being--the preconditions for victory.
The key to the “David”’s appeal is Michelangelo’s magnificent projection of man at his best--vigorously healthy, beautiful, rational, competent. It expresses a heroic view of man and of a universe auspicious to his success. Such a projection is of immeasurable worth to anyone who holds such a sense of life--whether that person lived 500 years ago or lives today.
Unfortunately, this kind of artistic projection has almost entirely been relegated to the past.
Today intellectuals once again view man as an ugly, corrupt being, trapped in an incomprehensible universe and not in control of his own destiny. Consequently, man and his values are not considered a serious subject for art by Modernists; “serious art” contains the defecations of an elephant or the rusty steel of a garbage dump.
Michelangelo’s “David” thoroughly rejects both the Christian and Modernist conceptions of man. The David projects man as neither a monster nor a hapless victim, but as an efficacious and noble being. The “David” is the ultimate projection of heroic choice and heroic action.
What is the meaning of Michelangelo’s “David” for modern-day man? The same as it was 500 years ago--the brilliant projection of the ideal.
Michelangelo was a master at capturing the human form. His David is a masterpiece of art. It would not have withstood the test of time as great art if anyone thought of it as a homosexual fantasy. Great art is great art, irregardless of whatever sins or flaws may exist in the artist. Let's not forget the human form (at least in youth) is a beautiful thing and a medical and scientific marvel, to boot.
When we say God created man and woman, we need to appreciate what that means. He was no slouch in the creativity department.
Brunelleschi's Dome was also "described" in the consecration motet by Dufay. The music is constructed in the same ratios as the Dome.
All man's work is vanity.
As soon as the MOSLEMS take over Europe the statues of the last 3000 years will be broken and ground to dust as the ststues of Buddha in Afghanistan were.
See them while you can.
From the comment about taking the daughters off continent, you aren't one of those who believe England is the modern Israel, are you? I thought replacement theology was pretty much dead.
The buttsex crowd has been trying to claim him as one of their own for several decades now. They love "outting" dead people who can't defend themselves, but there's a problem: There is no evidence whatsoever to back up their claim other than the fact that he created the most beautiful male nude in history and he never married. However, he has been romantically linked to at least 3 women, the fact that he never married is understandable when you take the time to lear about his personal habits. Michelangelo was OBSESSED with his work. It was not uncommon for him to sculpt for 20 hours a day. He completed the Sistine Chapel Ceiling (a body of work that could have taken several artists working together a lifetime) in four years. By himself. Homosexuals define themselves by their perversion and can not relate to people who have more normal interests.
This is patently ridiculus. Michelangelo was the artist of some of the most profound and moving Christian art ever created.
The pretty posers come and go
Speaking of Michelangelo
Q: Why do you say Michelangelo was gay?
A: Because you have been brainwashed by the homosexual agenda.
There is a movie; that is what I mainly remember includes painting the Sistine Chapel, a sort of '50s-60s movie. Maybe Kirk Douglas is in it.
I am not sure if the movie is about some other subject or about Michaelangelo.
"As expressed by one of the leading Christians of the time, Saint Augustine, man is “crooked and sordid, bespotted and ulcerous.”"
Zhheesh! This guy's only off BY MORE THAN A THOUSAND FRICKIN' YEARS!!! St. Augustine lived at the close of the fourth century, AD, and a little beyond. Typical of Western art in the interim was precisely the opposite: iconography, which typically portrayed only saints, and only in their most ideal form. But even still, Michelangelo was not the first to revolt against iconography, by about a century.
>>and the personal firearm was near production..."David" announces a New Age!<<
Good insight... David does announce an age of radical individualism, and his solitary, confident pose depicts it quite well.
>>Michelangelo was the first sculptor in the West to demonstrate such high skill since 538 AD.<<
You've affixed a realist value to what you consider achievement. Iconography is very beautiful and requires much skill. What is great about David is that he has captured the moment of choosing greatness, rather than iconographers who would show once greatness has been acheived. The author of the article sorta got this right. But the critical point of why this is such a great work is also that you can, through the mastery of Michelangelo's own craft, see the glory present within David, even before he has acheived his gloriuos deed. Michelangelo doesn't show a young boy gathering his courage, but rather a reflective, yet confident pose of someone who know he is up to whatever task is laid before him.
The Agony and the Extacy - Charlton Heston
The movie is "The Agony and the Ecstasy," and it stars Charlie Heston. But read the book instead. It's by Irving Stone and it is a fascinating portrayal of everyday life in Rome and Florence 500 years ago.
Donatello tried to capture a more realistic portrayal of David as a youth. Michelangelo's work is about metaphore.
"did I mention the "Pieta", thta he sculpted at age 24?"
I was lucky enough to go to Rome in college. Aside from the sight of my newborn babies, nothing I have ever seen in my life has moved me as much as this profoundly beautiful sculpture. Well, maybe the sight of the sun going down over the Rocky Mountains or the sun coming up over the Atlantic ocean. But they're in different categories.
Was he really only 24!? Wow..
Eh? I've been a great fan of Michelangelo for years, but dude, he was gay. There's little room for doubt in contemporary documentation.
There's a whole a string of poems he wrote for a friend (he was rather good at poetry, too, if you can trust the translations) to commemorate the death of a young man with whom they had both been intimate.
Thanks, I will rent the AGony and the Ecstasy sometime.
I too, would not pay any heed to any negative comments.
Michaelangelo did all of these other works. The Creation scene, you know the finger of God touching Adam I believe in the Sistine Chapel is so wellknown and indeed, an Icon.
I guess that's why I liked it better. It actually looked like it could have been a young boy who killed Goliath.
read later bump
That argument is basless when you understand how people communicated back then. Read some of Shakespeare's Sonnets sometime and tell me if you think he was gay too.
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