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| At the age of 14 Michelangelo left painting and went to study sculpture. In the mid 1490’s Michelangelo took his first trip to Rome. There he was able to study the classical statues and began sculpting large scale statues. His first was Bacchus in 1498. But his most famous and possibly best sculpture he did was David. After he moved back to Florence he was commissioned by the republic to do sculpt a statue of David. Why David? Well Florence was going through a hard time and the character David from the bible sends a message of heroism and courage. Michelangelo chose to portray a manly, strong and confident David. Michelangelo began to sculpt David in 1501 and continued until he was finished in 1504. When you gaze upon the completed product you can see so much in the sculpture. When you look at him from one angle he looks strong, confident, and proud as if he has just defeated the giant Goliath. But then when you look at him from the other angle he looks worried, uneasy, and even timid as if he is afraid to fight Goliath. This very larger than life sculpture of the biblical David meant so much to the Florentines of Michelangelo’s time. This gave them confidence, strength and a need to fulfill their duty to the Republic. This statue proved that Michelangelo was the greatest sculptor of his time and quite possibly the greatest of all of history. Some of his other sculptures include: | |
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 The Pieta (1497-1500 St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City) this sculpture shows Christ in his mother's arms just after he was taken from the cross. |
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| Moses (aprox. 1515 Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome) this is a sculpture of Moses scowling at the israelites just after they had been worshipping a false god. This sculpture sits on top of the tomb of Pope Julius II. |
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| To find more information about Michelangelo's sculpture David go to http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/micheldavid/david.html | |
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| Questions? Contact Paul at behnkpt@uwec.edu Page Last Updated ~ Thursday October 7, 2004 |
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