WARNING: THIS CLIP PROVIDES CLOSE-UPS OF THE DAVID, MICHELANGELO'S SCULPTURE. IT MOVES IN CLOSELY TO EXAMINE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORK. KEEP IN MIND THAT THE SCULPTURE IS OF A NUDE MAN. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
In 1501, Michelangelo (whose full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) took on one of his life's most significant challenges. The great church in Florence, with its fantastic dome, was missing a statue not seen since classical times. Michelangelo would sculpt such a work - the David - from a piece of Carrara marble.
To create a sculpture of such stunning reality, Michelangelo had to actually examine how the human body was constructed. He would do that by dissecting bodies at a time when such a thing was illegal.
The key to Michelangelo's David was the sculpture's face. It took the artist (who was not yet thirty) two-and-a-half years to complete the full work.
But ... once the colossal statue was finished ... how would Michelangelo transport it to a place of honor in the Duomo?
See, also:
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 1
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 2
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 3
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 4
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 5
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 7
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 8
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 9
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 10
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 11
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 12
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 13
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 14
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 15
Credits
From "The Divine Michelangelo" (2004), with Stephen Noonan playing the title role. Online, courtesy BBC.
Directors
Tim Dunn
Stuart Elliott
Narrator
Susannah York
Michelangelo
Stephen Noonan
