 ACCADEMIA GALLERY & MICHELANGELO'S DAVID
The Accademia dell' Arte del Disegno (Academy of Design) of Florence was the first academy of drawing in Europe. It was founded in 1561 with high patronage of the Medici by Giorgio Vasari, Agnolo Bronzino and Bartolommeo Ammannati, three of the central artists of Mannerism. At first the academy met in the cloisters of the Church of the Santissima Annunziata.
When the Accademia welcomed Artemisia Gentileschi to membership, it was a signal honor to a woman.
Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, decreed in 1784 that all the schools of drawing in Florence be combined under one roof, under the direction of the Accademia, now renamed Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) and that it was to contain a gallery of paintings by old masters to help the studies of the young artists.
The Accademia, and the adjoining Gallery still occupy the premises that were assigned in via Ricasoli, a former convent and hospice. The Grand Duke also decided to include among the arts protected in this way, a conservatory of music (the Cherubini Conservatory) and, more extraordinary, a school of art restoration (the Opificio delle Pietre Dure).
The Accademia Gallery has housed the original David of Michelangelo since 1873. The sculpture was allegedly brought to the Accademia for reasons of conservation, although other factors were involved in its move from its previous outdoor location on Piazza della Signoria. The original intention was to create a 'Michelangelo museum', with original sculptures and drawings, to celebrate the fourth centenary of the artist's birth.
Today the gallery's small collection of Michelangelos include his Captives intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II and a statue of Saint Matthew, all of which are unfinished. In 1939 these were joined by a Pietà discovered in the Barberini chapel in Palestrina, though experts now consider its attribution to Michelangelo to be dubious.
Among the notable renaissance works on display are an outstanding collection of 15th and 16th century Florentine paintings by Paolo Uccello, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli and Andrea del Sarto and, from the High Renaissance, Giambologna's original plaster for the Rape of the Sabine Women.
As well as a number of Florentine Gothic paintings, the gallery houses the idiosyncratic collection of Russian icons assembled by the Grand Dukes of Lorraine, of which Leopoldo was one.
MICHELANGELO'S DAVID
Michelangelo's David, finished by Michelangelo Buonarotti in 1504 (started in 1501) is widely considered to be a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, and one of Michelangelo's two greatest works of sculpture, along with the Pietà. David portrays the Biblical David at the moment that he decides to engage Goliath. This 5.17 meter (17') marble statue was commissioned as a symbol of the Florentine Republic. The completed sculpture was unveiled on September 8, 1504.
Michelangelo's David is based on the artistic discipline of disegno, which is built on knowledge of the male human form. Under this discipline, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because it mimics divine creation. Because Michelangelo adhered to the concepts of disegno, he worked under the premise that the image of David was already in the block of stone he was working on -- in much the same way as the human soul is thought to be found within the physical body. It is also an example of the contrapposto style of posing the human figure.
The proportions are not quite true to the human form; the head and upper body are somewhat larger than the proportions of the lower body. While some have suggested that this is of the mannerist style, the most commonly accepted explanation is that the statue was originally intended to be placed on a church facade or high pedestal, and that the proportions would appear correct when the statue was viewed from some distance below.
There is controversy, however, over the statue's supposed Biblical reference, since the statue portrays an uncircumcised male, whereas the original King David was undoubtedly circumcised.
Because of this fact, some art historians believe that "David" was actually the name of the model who posed for the statue, rather than King David himself, and that Michelangelo claimed the Biblical reference to make it acceptable to the Christian world. Again, this theory is merely speculation.
The statue was originally placed in the Piazza Signoria, just in front of the Palazzo della Signoria. To protect it from damage, in 1873 it was moved to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it attracts many visitors. A replica was placed in the Piazza Signoria in 1910.
In 1991 a person attacked the statue with a hammer, damaging the toes of the left foot before being restrained. In 2003 a controversy occurred with some experts opposing the use of water to clean the statue. This was the first major cleaning since 1843.
A replica of the statue was offered as a gift by the municipality of Florence to the municipality of Jerusalem to mark the 3,000 anniversary of David's conquest of the city. The proposed gift evoked a storm in the city, with religious factions in the municipality declaring that the naked figure was pornographic and should not be accepted.
Finally, a compromise was reached and another, fully-clad replica of a different statue was donated in its stead.
There are many other full-size replicas of the statue around the world, from a plaster cast copy in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, to the centrepiece of a shopping mall in Surfers Paradise, Italy. One resident of Los Angeles, California, has decorated his house and grounds with twenty-three reduced scale replicas of the statue. There is also a copy gracing the Appian Way Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
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