SPEAKER 1: We're in the
Bargello in Florence, in an enormous vaulted room. This is a building that was
used for judicial purposes. Now it's a museum. And it holds
Donatello's David, one of the most important sculptures
of the early Renaissance SPEAKER 2: Important
because it was the first free-standing
nude sculpture since classical antiquity. Quite an achievement. SPEAKER 1: So for 1,000
years, the Christian West had looked to the soul
as the place to focus. The body was seen as
a path to corruption, and so it was not
to be celebrated. What we're seeing
here is a return to Ancient Greece and Rome's
love of the body, its respect for the body, which
is so evident. SPEAKER 2: It really is. Donatello's looked back
in ancient Greek and Roman sculpture also for the position
that David is standing in, the position of contrapposto
which is a very relaxed pose, where the weight is placed on
one leg, the other leg is bent. And the figure has--
because of contrapposto-- has a sense of movement. In the Renaissance, this
figure looked remarkably alive, given the way that
medieval sculpture had looked for so long. SPEAKER 1: It's detached from
any kind of figural group or any kind of architecture. And so there really is
a sense of autonomy, as if this figure could move
forward of its own accord. The figure is
referencing the classical in another way, as well in
its very material nature. This is bronze, largely copper
with a little bit of tin added to it to give it strength. And it's actually
hollow, it's created through a technique
which is known as lost-wax casting, which the
ancient Romans and the ancient Greeks before them had employed. And which had been used
throughout the medieval period, but not at this scale. And it was just in
the early Renaissance that artists are
beginning to re-explore how to create bronze
sculptures that are this large. SPEAKER 2: David is very
young, and it's hard not to see a kind of
sensuality in the way that David puts his hand
on his hip and looks down. And the fact that he's
wearing boots and a hat and is otherwise nude, there's
a kind of eroticism here. SPEAKER 1: And that's especially
evident if you look at the fact that David is standing on the
now severed head of Goliath. In fact, in his right hand he's
holding Goliath's own sword which David has used. But because he's standing
on that head that pushes his leg up, one of
the wings of the helmet is just riding up the inner
thigh, perhaps a little too high, In fact. So there really is a kind
of overt sexuality here. And it's so interesting
because it's at odds with the civic
symbolism of this sculpture. This was a sculpture
that was really important to the
city of Florence. And yet, it has this very
intimate quality to it. SPEAKER 2: It was the seen in
the 1460s in the Medici garden. Although we're not exactly
sure who commissioned it, it's likely that
it was a Medici. SPEAKER 1: So the Medici palace
had a large entrance way, and there was a
kind of axes that allowed you see directly
into the garden. And this would have been
visible in the center of it. SPEAKER 2: That's right. It's really important for us to
remember that to the Florentine people, this wasn't just
King David from the Bible. There were all sorts
of associations. First of all, David
in the biblical story defeats his enemy--
even though he's the underdog-- he defeats
his enemy with God's help. The Florentine people felt
very much identified with David because like David, they
had defeated their enemy or they-- this is
how they saw it-- they had defeated their
enemy, the Duke of Milan in this early 15th century,
with the help of God. In fact, they felt
blessed and chosen by God, and the heirs of
the ancient Roman Republic. And so the subject
of David represented Florence, the
Florentine Republic. SPEAKER 1: So
Goliath, in a sense, takes on the role of
the Duke of Milan. Milan was significantly
stronger than Florence, which was a mercantile culture,
as opposed to a military power. And Florence was, of
course, a republic whereas Milan was an autocracy. That is, it had a single ruler. SPEAKER 2: And so
David became a symbol of the Florentine Republic. Anyone looking at this
sculpture in the Medici garden in the 15th century would have
understood David as a reference to the liberties and
the freedoms that were so cherished by
the Florentine people, and had been threatened
by the Duke of Milan. SPEAKER 1: On the
other hand, you could say that the Medici we
usurping this civic symbolism for themselves in some ways. And in fact, when the
Medici were run out of town, this sculpture
was actually taken to the signoria, that
is to the town hall, and made a public sculpture. And so there is really the
sense of the investment of this culture in this story. SPEAKER 2: Right. And so by having it
in the Medici garden, appropriating this symbol
of the city and all that was great about
the city, Medici were appropriating
that for themselves. SPEAKER 1: So here
in this sculpture is this embodiment of the
promise of a long rule. David will grow up to be king,
to have been enormously wise. And in a sense, it was a perfect
kind of story for the Medici to put forward as a
representation, not only the city, but specifically of
their own rule within the city. SPEAKER 2: Right. So they're sort of
identifying themselves as the city of Florence. Identifying themselves with
youthfulness, with King David, and with all that's great
about the Florentine Republic. SPEAKER 1: And although this is
a sculpture that's about war, the symbols are clearly
about David and peace, and the Medici and peace. David wears a soft hat as
opposed to the helmet of war that Goliath wears. David has severed Goliath's
head with Goliath's own battle-hardened sword. If you look at
that sword closely, you can see that there
are notches out of it. It's been in many, many battles. David needs to borrow it in
order to sever that head. But in David's other hand, in
his left hand, he holds a rock. Presumably the rock that
he used in the slingshot to actually fell the giant
in the first place. But I think it's interesting
that Donatello here, a sculptor, is actually
portraying that rock as, in a sense, the opposing
weapon to the sword. That is a material that
Donatello, as a sculptor, often carves. He works in marble as often as
he does in bronze, perhaps more often. And so are these, in a
sense, the two weapons of the two cities? Either the violence of Milan
versus the culture of Florence? SPEAKER 2: The iconography, all
of the meanings, David and what that meant to the
city of Florence. That eroticism, or even the
homo-eroticism, art historians are not really sure
about all of those meanings for the 15th
century Florentine people. And some art
historians have even suggested that
the identification of this figure as David is
not even completely secure. That it could also have
been read as Mercury. And so we see it in
a complicated way, and it's quite likely that
the people of Florence, in the 15th century, saw
it in a complicated way and had multiple readings of it. SPEAKER 1: It's an important
reminder that art history itself is a process of trying to
restore meaning and understand meaning through
the lens of time. And-- SPEAKER 2: It is, after
all, 600 years old. SPEAKER 1: That's right. But nevertheless, it is one
of the great sculptures that really embodies so many
of the ideals and so many of the concerns of
the 15th century.