Donatello Di Bardi's David Analysis

Compare the Donatello’s David with Michelangelo’s version of the same subject. How does the difference between these two indicate the stylistic difference between their two respective periods?

Antonio del Pollaiouo was an Italian artist specialized in painting, sculpture, engraved and goldsmith during the Italian Renaissance. He was well-known for his mastery of line and renderings of the human figure in his sculpture . Antonio created the sculpture of “Hercules and Antaeus” during the Early Classical Period. He was also one of the few artists to study human anatomy together with Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Giotto’s The Entry into Jerusalem and Duccio’s painting of the same title are extremely similar in appearance. Both artists are very aware of the spacing of everything in their paintings. In each, Christ is standing between two groups of people but is closer to one than the other. The positioning of the people on both sides and those in the trees are nearly the same as well. Both artists put forth a lot of effort into detail of the figures in the paintings. The story strategy for each painting is that of “the citizens welcomed Jesus with palm fronds and cheers as he entered Jerusalem riding a donkey; Christ’s arrival on a humble mount fulfilled a Hebrew Bible prophecy” (Davies et al.). In Giotto’s painting, the “large simple forms, strong grouping

Each artistic style can be influenced by the previous period of time or the artist’s personal preferences. There are also many similar themes of athletic sculptures that were made in the different periods. In order to understand the similarities and differences in artistic styles and the meaning behind the sculptures, it is helpful to compare works of two periods, the Greek Hellenistic period and the early Italian Renaissance. The two sculptures are Seated Boxer from the Greek Hellenistic period and David by Donatello from the early Italian Renaissance. The meaning behind each sculpture is somewhat different. One reflects Greek idealism while the other one reflects a symbol of civic pride

Michelangelo famously carved many sculptures throughout his lifetime. One of his most famous pieces is the Rome Pietà. The French cardinal Jean de Bilhères Lagraulas commissioned Michelangelo to carve a memorial piece for his own burial in 1497 (Wallace, 243). The Pietà is currently on display in St. Peter’s Basilica on a pedestal as an altarpiece. William Wallace’s article “Michelangelo’s Rome Pietà: Altarpiece or Grave Memorial?” discusses whether the Pietà should be viewed as an elevated altarpiece or at eye level as a memorial through historical context and the intention of how the work was made to be viewed by an audience. The Rome Pietà should be moved to ground level as it was meant to be viewed when Michelangelo carved the piece.

In Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin uses the motif of biblical imagery to great affect throughout the story. There are allusions to the garden of Eden in David’s discussion with Jacques (page 25), the symbol of the crucifix in Guillame’s bar (page 39), David’s reference to Judas and the Savior (page 111), and a mention of the walled city of Jericho (page 123). Perhaps most poignant are the names David and Giovanni, harkening back to the books of Samuel, and offering a more hopeful interpretation of Giovanni’s demise. These allusions offer a strong cultural counter point to the presence of homosexuality in Giovanni’s Room and challenge the societal narrative David is surrounded by.

This sculpture is made from bronze. It is a high relief sculpture because it is raised from the base. The Sacrifice of Isaac was carved using the subtractive process. He removed material from the bronze until the sculpture was completed. Brunelleschi used his methods to intensify the appearance of reality. He wanted to portray the actual scene of Abraham getting ready to kill Isaac.

¬¬As Michelangelo’s David is made in years 1501-04, and is detailed from the penetrating veins, furrowed brows and the muscles, we can know that this sculpture was made during the High Renaissance, as in this period it is known to be during fifteen hundreds, and that in this period they make their art more detailed than in ancient Greek and Rome to make it look more realistic. On the other hand as Bernini’s David is made during 1623-24, extra details in both face and drapery, and the movement depicted, we can know that this sculpture was made during baroque art period, as in this period they used exaggerated motion and details to produce drama, tension, and grandeur in art, and is known to be during sixteen hundreds.

People face many obstacles in life, but with courage one can overcome these hardships. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines courage as mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Even though this is an excellent description of courage, one might ask where or who shows these qualities in the real world. Examples of courage can be found in the Bible, the military, and in first responders.

In art, it is very common to compare two bodies of work. One example of the comparison of art is the Statue of David by Michelangelo and Donatello. In my paper, I will be comparing the Kroisos and the Kritios Boy. Both of these bodies of work are statues made around the same time period, 480 and 530 BCE. As any normal comparison, both pieces have similarities that are shared and differences that make them unique. With this thinking, let us examine the statues of Kroisos and Kritios Boy.

The biggest similarity between both sculptures is the delicate detail provided to the both figures. The big muscles, tilted brow and the beaten up look of ‘Seated Boxer’s’ body shows the nature rule of human figure and the strength of the human body. ‘David’s’ lean and smaller form show the little details of the male form, and ‘David’ is very balance between confidence and strength of male with the arrogant emotional and combined part of male and female (Allen, 2014). In both the Hellenistic and early Italian Renaissance periods; the human form became a study for artists and sculptors, because of the difficulty in accurate to recreate it, so that the perfection becomes a goal to achieve by the time. Furthermore, the Greeks also find a fact that successful sculptures are those pieces that actually could imply the religion and show strength of men in both physically and mentally. In short, in both cultures; the human form is given a lot of importance. The Hellenistic Greeks thought that man was the measure of everything (Castelle, Coquinot & Bourgarit, 2016). It is the reason why most sculptures are made that treated as God as importance. In the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century, people also think the human form was beautiful, think men belong to nature so they are being capable of many things then females. ‘Seated Boxer’ and ‘David’ both express the beauty of humanity and the artistic desire to

When we think about sculptures we usually look back to ancient Greek and some of its famous sculptures like the statue of Zeus or the Discus Thrower. Ancient Greek was where sculptures seem to originate and influence later periods. Like the Renaissance in Europe. Renaissance was the “rebirth of classical Greece and Rome”(Hoeschen) which makes sense regarding the fact that the renaissance sculptors seemed to draw inspiration from the classical art of Greece and Rome. For instance a great example would be Ancient Greek Artist Antioch’s famous Venus de Milo and later Greek influenced artists Michelangelo from the renaissance famous Pieta. I will explain how the Renaissance artist took the ideas of the Greek, but seemed to change the subject matter

One of the big questions surround biblical archaeology is that of, did all these characters, main or supporting, really exist? King David is widely regarded as one of the greatest rulers of ancient Israel. He is known for his melodic songs on the lyre and for killing Goliath with nothing but a slingshot and a stone. Despite all his supposed greatness, there is very little evidence to his actual existence. According to the New York Times, “The Bible is our only source of information about David. No ancient inscription mentions him. No archaeological discovery can be securely linked to him. The quest for the historical David, therefore, is primarily exegetical.” Without concrete historical evidence, all characters that are only known through the Torah must be viewed as made-up until

Much like the Olympians from ancient mythology, Renaissance artists are regarded as gods. They revolutionized the art world, reviving themes and styles derived from the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The style they created completely contrasted with that of its predecessor, International Gothic. But how did this “Rebirth” come about? There are many answers to this question, but much of it lies in patriotism and civic values, especially in sculpture. One of the best examples of this is in 15th century Florence, which was virtually the birthplace of the Renaissance. It is there that sculpture reached its culmination, as a result of pride in the city, its history, and its values.

In both sculptures the hair is deeply carved and is a vivid feature of the busts. The detail of realism in David’s left hand we can see his veins on his hands when he is holding the slingshot and his ribs near the chest. In the bust of Commodus we can see the similar detail of his hands especially the joints above the knuckle area and how realistic it looks when he’s holding the apples and Hercules club on his. In both busts chest, arms and face are sooth. In both busts these sculptures have the portrait of emperor Commodus and the small town hero David as musculant where as in real life they weren’t this is done because Romans believed that the god made us humans and by showing David and Commodus as being musculant hey are portraying them as gods and God were portrayed to be musculant and strong. This is also to show power and strength of them and compare them to the gods in their skills and intelligence. This shows how people respected David and Commodus and hot they treated them like god like humans. They both have small lips, moth. In both busts the lips/mouth are shut. This can show how silence is more powerful than words as it’s seen in their action. Both David’s and Commodus’ eyes are pretty similar as they both have eye bags underneath their eyes. David’s eyes are in more detail and are more carved, drilled into the marble when compared with Commodus. Both of them are looking away from the audience with their head slightly tiled up to show power and their place in the society. Commodus is looking/glancing to his right whereas David is looking to his left and it seems like he is concentrating as his eyebrows and forehead has slight wrinkles also is eye bows are cringed together in both of the busts we can see muscles and when David is holding / grabbing the slingshot. They are portrayed as being healthy and