Art History Compare and Contrast Essay

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Ben Levy
02779004
LA 121: Art History Through 19 Century
Wednesday 8:30 A.M.
Sara Ellis
One David, One Story, Two Works Of Art
Throughout history, many artists have depicted the biblical figure of a shepard named
David and his battle with the giant, Goliath. Michelangelo and Bernini are just two of the artists
that sculpted statutes of the biblical hero figure. Most of Michelangelo’s work was created
during the period of the high renaissance whereas Bernini worked during the Italian Baroque
period. Although Michelangelo and Bernini both sculpted David beautifully in marble these
statues are vastly different. The most striking difference between these two statues of David is
how each artist captured a moment in time during the epic story. Each of these David's
provides an understanding as a viewer about the artist and the period of time during which he
worked.
The story of David and Goliath has provided ample material for much art. A Philistine
giant measuring nearly nine feet tall and wearing full armor mocked and challenged the
Israelites to fight. The King of the Israel, Saul, and the whole Hebrew army were terrified of
Goliath. One day David a youth was sent to the battle lines by his father to bring back news of
his brothers. David heard Goliath shouting his daily defiance and saw the great fear stirred
within the men of Israel. David responded and volunteered to fight. Dressed in his simple
tunic, carrying his shepherd's staff, slingshot, and a pouch full of stones, David approached
Goliath. As Goliath moved in for the kill, David reached into his bag and slung one of his stones
at Goliath's head, slaying him.
Painter, sculptor, architect, and poet, Michelangelo was one of the most famous artists
of the Italian High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy and
was born to a family of moderate means in the banking business. He became an apprentice to
a painter before studying in the sculpture gardens of the powerful Medici
family. Michelangelo’s statue of David is just one example of the works he produced.
Michelangelo, who was given a block of marble by the Board of Works for the Cathedral of
Florence, carved the shape of David as if his figure was trapped from within the stone. David is
portrayed in part as the ideal man, partly as an adolescent youth, and is to a scale larger than
life. In fact, Michelangelo’s David is gigantic, standing three times that of life size, at seventeen
feet tall. Unlike his predecessors, Michelangelo posed David in the moment, as he is preparing
for battle, rather than victorious with the grisly head of Goliath beneath his foot. David appears
still and calm and he is in a contrapposto stance. His face looks tense, but not so much in a
physical as in a mental sense, preparing for battle. Michelangelo also has posed David nude.
The strength of the statue's vulnerability, its nakedness, humanity of expression, and overall
courage made the David a prized representative of the city of Florence. Michelangelo believed
this was the moment of David's greatest courage.
Michelangelo was given the honor of sculpting the David for the Board of Works for
the Cathedral of Florence. It was considered a fit symbol of courage and civic duty to guard the
city. The David was meant to symbolize liberty and the freedom of Florence’s republican
ideas. At the time of it’s sculpting, the national state of Italy was very young (between 1501
and 1504), and power resided with individual cities. Florence was surrounded by numerous
enemies that were much stronger and more numerous than the city was.) When they placed
the David statue on the square in front of the city hall, the people of Florence could instantly
identify with him as a victor over superior enemies. David was a symbol, to them, representing
fortezza (strength) and ira (anger). The character traits of Michelangelo’s David are considered
more important than his victory over Goliath. Perhaps this is why Michelangelo depicted David
before the battle, strong-willed and ready to fight.
Another Italian architect and sculptor, Bernini, born in Naples in 1598, is widely
considered the creator of the Baroque style of sculpture. Bernini’s David is a fine example of
what the baroque style is defined as. Bernini sculpted his statue out of marble but unlike
Michelangelo ‘s, his David stands in a far more extreme contrapposto stance making the battle
with Goliath more engaging and immersing us further into the story. “Expanding upon the
fascination Michelangelo had with the human body, Bernini added torsion to create a very
dynamic figure that extends into the viewer's space.” David’s face is tense and twisted as he
exerts his strength. He is in the midst of fighting Goliath. Bernini’s David has a single viewpoint
where one should be viewing it from the front side but the way he created movement in space
suggests many other possible viewpoints for us as the audience. The main action of the piece
can be seen, from one view, the front side and for this particular sculpture, at eyelevel for the
viewer. Consequently, the viewer is drawn into the story. From this point, Rudolf Wittkower
says the action is “homogeneous passing thru the leg, body, and neck, and counterbalanced by
the turn of the head and the arm holding the stone in the sling.” In Bernini’s David you get a
sense of the whole story as his sculpture captures the moment in the middle of the battle but
allows you to infer what else has happened and what might happen next. Bernini’s David
interacts with its surroundings and even perhaps other characters. Its part of the environment
and there is a before and after to David’s story.
Bernini is one of the greatest baroque artists and his father was a key player on his way
to success. The elder Bernini had an opportunity to introduce his son, a child prodigy, to the
Pope and the Pope's favorite nephew, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The cardinal, a man of vast
wealth with a real passion for art, was to become Bernini's first important patron. Bernini
created the David sculpture for Cardinal Scipione Borghese. He sought to follow the story as
closely as possible for the Cardinal and did so successfully.
Bernini was considered one of the greatest artists to represent the Baroque style. His
sculptures were expansive, theatrical, and, the element of time plays an important role. His
emotion-packed David seems to be moving through both time and space. In the Italian Baroque
period this was known as the “Baroque Moment”, which was usually the most dramatic
moment of a scene and one of the greatest artists to represent this style happens to be Bernini.
Both Michelangelo and Bernini had the chance to tell the story of David, a biblical hero
in a sculpted piece of artwork. These two works of art are of David but taking a closer look tells
us more about the stories each artist chose to represent. Even though Michelangelo’s David is
so much greater in size and perhaps fame, Bernini’s powerful representation of the story and
how it translates into his sculpture, makes up for its smaller scale. In Michelangelo’s David, the
body features represent the story. David ‘s hands are proportionately larger, his face exudes
determination, and he appears deep in preparation. Bernini’s sculpture of David uses a 360-
degree viewpoint and motion within the context of the location to tell the story. Bernini’s David
draws it’s power from the movement, the facial expression, the context he is placed, and
creates a character that is equally larger than life as is Michelangelo’s David, yet life size in it’s
depiction.
The story of David and Goliath is one that has been a source of material for great
art and literature through out history because the story tells the victory of good over evil. The
way in which artists, such as Michelangelo and Bernini, depicted David reflects the style of
them as an artist and as well as the period during which the artist worked. These two great
David’s, though portrayed at significantly different moments of the same tale, are both able to
portray strength, emotion, and, are each considered timeless masterpieces.

Work cited
"Bernini's David." Bernini. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
"Michelangelo's David." David. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
"Michelangelo." 2013. The Biography Channel Apr 26 2013, 02:30
http://www.biography.com/people/michelangelo-9407628>.

White, Veronica. "Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New
York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bern/hd_bern.htm (October 2003)

Wittkower, Rudolf, and Joy Kenseth. "David." David. n.p. Web. 26 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.students.sbc.edu/vermilya08/Bernini/David.htm>.

Kleiner, Fred S. "Italy, 1500 to 1600." Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective.
13th Ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Clark Baxter, 2010. 468-69. Print.

Kleiner, Fred S. "Italy, 1500 to 1600." Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective.
13th Ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Clark Baxter, 2010. 531 Print.

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