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Renaissance Arts and the Three David's


            The Renaissance era was the embodiment of humanism with the inspiration of antiquity and contemporary. In this age, there was a shift in thinking, by centering human beings on the point of the physical reality rather than the spiritual God. With this concept, artists and sculptors started to revive the Greco-Roman influences and reflect it on the male nude figure with Renaissance quality. Through the portrayal of iconic heroism, artists like Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo developed a new sculptural representation of the biblical king, David. With different mediums and artistic skills, there are a continuity and transformation as they depict the ruler of Israel who once defeated Goliath in new ways. Through Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo, the evolution of David is prominent as each artist captures the courage and the spirit of this ancient biblical figure.
             From the 14th century to the middle of the 15th century, artists were progressing away from medieval models towards to Greco-Roman proportion concepts. In the Early Renaissance, Donatello (c. 1386-1466) was the premier artist in Florence and had extraordinary skill in bronze and stone sculpture. His David (c. 1428-32) is the first freestanding life sized nude male cast in bronzed since antiquity. In Donatello's depiction, David is portrayed as a childlike youth with lean muscle as stands cockily over the large head of the Philistine giant Goliath. Donatello continues with Hellenistic style, with David wearing a wreath helmet in a contrapposto stance with his left knee and arm bent. There is symmetria in this position and a dynamic contrast. His hair looks unruly and curls gracefully on his shoulders, which ascribes to his youth. His remaining hand holds a sword nearly the size of his body as the itinerary of the blade follows his straight left leg. David's lips are drawn upward into an archaic smile as he exudes an air of mischief, "mirthful [and] almost teasing" (Soltes, L18, 25:50).


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