The 3 Davids.

The 3 statues of David

In My humanities class we were asked to compare Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s, Michelangelo’s and Donatello’s statues of David, and how Bernini’s illustrates the Baroque perspective.

Donatello’s David: Was sculpted during the early Renaissance period around C. 1425-1430. The material used was bronze, standing 5’ 2 ¼” tall. The story behind his sculpture is depicted after the fight with Goliath.  The statue was at the beginning of Humanism and the first discovery of contrapposto and beauty of ancient Rome and Greek Sculptures. The statue has a sense of a victorious battle won, and being blessed by God. The shape of his sculpture is almost pyramid like as well as Michelangelo’s David. . It seems to be giving off the sense of immobility. David is wearing a helmet and has a sword at his side whereas the others show him without

these items.

                                                                

 Michelangelo’s David: Michelangelo's David was created during the time of high Renaissance around 1501-1504. The sculpture was made out of marble and stands 17’ tall. The sculpture depicted from the story of before the fight with Goliath. This statue has a beautiful figure which relates what the Renaissance era’s idea that man was created in God’s image, thus associating perfection, beauty and harmony in mathematics and God.  This was a time of high humanism and Renaissance.  His statue almost seems to be sitting and contemplating the art of beauty, beauty of man which was God’s greatest creation, which lead to the people coming to know God. The path to God was more through the mind than anything else. Donatello’s and Michelangelo’s David give the sense of eternal qualities that seem to separate us from David. David’s shape in this statue is at an angle or as in a diagonal composition which suggests movement energy and high drama.

                                                             

                                                                                                                                          

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s David: To me Bernini’s David has the most feelings of movement. David seems to be actively fighting Goliath with God on his side, which was how the church most likely felt, as they were battling against Satan, the great battle of good over evil. David seems to have no time for contemplation but gives off a reaction to our bodies, not our minds as in the Baroque era.. He wants us to be able to relate to the image of the statue in our bodies and not just in our minds as in the days of Renaissance. To feel the movement and image of the sculpture physically and be able to relate to it physically, to feel it more as momentary then as eternally.

Baroque era was a time when the path to God in more direct, more emotional. The church at that time felt the statue needed to appeal very directly to the faithful people of its congregation.