Michelangelo's David

Florentine History and Civic Identity

John T. Paoletti

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781107043596
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316236352
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

This book takes a new look at the interpretations of, and the historical information surrounding, Michelangelo's David. New documentary materials discovered by Rolf Bagemihl add to the early history of the stone block that became the David and provide an identity for the painted terracotta colossus that stood on the cathedral buttresses for which Michelangelo's statue was to be a companion. The David, with its placement at the Palazzo della Signoria, was deeply implicated in the civic history of Florence, where public nakedness played a ritual role in the military and in the political lives of its people. This book, then, places the David not only within the artistic history of Florence and its monuments but also within the popular culture of the period as well.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Frontispiece
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Table of contents
• List of figures
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Commission and History of the David
• Chapter 2 David, Narrative Ambiguity, and the Competition with Antiquity
• Chapter 3 The David and Sculpture at the Cathedral
• Chapter 4 David and the Symbols of the State at the Palazzo della Signoria
• Chapter 5 Naked Men in Piazza
• Appendix A Concerning Michelangelo’s David and Other Related Commissions
• Appendix B Report of the Committee to Advise on the Placement of the David: Transcription and Translation
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index