For my formal analysis post I chose to do David, created by Donatello, is a statue of David after his defeat of Goliath. This statue was constructed between 1446 and 1460, it is made from bronze. The statue is approximately five feet two and one fourth inches tall. This piece of art work has many of the characteristics of that time period, the main one being naturalism and with a strong sense of balance and harmony.
Donatello really brings idealism and naturalism to life right in front of our eyes right down to the height of the sculpture. The height of the David statue is about the size of a teenage boy, he even has the baby looking face that shows innocence's. The body of the figure has slight muscles around the arms and abs, but nothing like the soldiers of older males who have six pack abs and rippling muscles all over their bodies. David's body show youth all over like he's just hitting puberty, so he's not really strong. Actually when I first look at the statue I think of a boy filled with imagination and a lot of adventure, mainly because the hat with leafs that form a head band. The upper half of the body has a lot of details that bring it to live especially in the head area with each individual leaf matted to the metal looking war hat. The hat also has a few leafs at the top around the point at the top. As you travel down the body you can see his weapons for fighting the stone in one hand and the sword that's too big for him in the other. At the very bottom is where Donatello does the most details. For example, the shields on his calves have engraved designs and symbols. Also it looks like he is stepping on feather with one foot on the head of Goliath. Goliaths head has details on the helmet that looks like it shows a story, and his eyes are closed with his beard hair sticking straight out. The many details in this amazing work of art bring it to life and give it the naturalism with idealism that Donatello was going for. I for one think he did a great job of naturalism with every part of the work.
While this sculpture shows naturalism it also is asymmetrical though it still has balance. David's left arm bent with his hand on his hip balances out the fact the right arm is out holding a sword to the ground. Though the sword is longer than the arm you would think that it would still be off balance, but then you see at the bottom opposite of the sword you see the head of Goliath that gives the final touches to the asymmetrical balance of the David statue. The Harmony that the statue has I feel has to do with the emotions that can see from the statue like the playful emotion of youth, the happiness from winning the battle, the mature feeling of growing up and become a man. There are so many emotions in this statue from all different parts of it that you would think that it would be crazy and not one statue but from many. It's not true though what you would think all of these emotion work to together to give it the sense of harmony.
Overall, this sculpture Donatello made tells a story, that was common in the time period, and physically fits the style and characteristics of the early Italian Renaissance art as I explained some of them earlier. This work of art is amazing in all its aspects. David is one of the art works that really proves that Donatello was just as amazing as most people have said though out the years since his time.
What I like best about this sculpture is that Donatello captures the essence of a teenage boy so perfectly. Donatello even captured the innocence in his face, as you stated early in your blog. Artists from the Renaissance period were so good at capturing the natural world. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt seemed a little strange that Donatello would make a figure of heroism as a teenage boy, when it seemed that the figures during this time were large males with defined muscle tone like you stated. I liked how you were able to pick up the emotional strengths that were introduced in this piece. Good analysis!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your analysis. You were direct in the two topics you wanted to discuss, idealism, and naturalism. The naturalism you were able to find in the actions of his figures. I think this was very interesting for you to look at, as apposed to the other details in the sculpture.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post! I knew exactly which image you were talking about, and it was really interesting hearing your depiction of this work. I like what you said about how he seems like a teenager and how his sword seems too big for him to wield. I also thought it was interesting how the harmony you spoke of makes the boy seem that much more jubilant and young, especially after winning such a battle.
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