Donatello's David During Renaissance

Introduction

When we look back at the renaissance period in Italian history, text books and articles discuss the importance of great artist such as Leonardo Davinci, or Donatello. However, there are also men of lesser fame, but equal importance during this time period who influenced art in a similar way, the Medici family.

This essay will aim to critically analyse the importance of Donatello’s David in achieving the aims of the Medici Family during Renaissance Florence and will also elaborate on the history of the statue itself, and how it became a tool of such propaganda.

The History of Florence and the Medici Family.

Originally from the foothills of Tuscany, the Medici family’s rapid ascension through the ranks of Florentine politics

As a result, the statue of David had subsequently become a symbol of the strength of Florence and its independence from the surrounding states. The fact that the Medici’s commissioned the same artist to erect a sculpture in their own palace garden hints at the fact that they should be identified as the patrons of Florence, or at the very least, responsible for the liberties and freedoms which the Florentine people enjoyed . The Medici sustained this power by using art to influence the people of the Renaissance, and use it as their personal propaganda machine. However, the fortunes of the Medici can be likened to the rise and fall of markets, for every boom there must also be a bust.

How the political ideas of the Medici Family were portrayed in Donatello’s David.

The vast majority of scholars believe that David was commissioned by Cosimo de’Medici, a patron of Donatello and a lifelong friend . This was a real opportunity for Donatello to express himself as an artist and explore artistic principles like never before. There is a distinct possibility that David was completed in 1444, however was not installed in its intended destination until sometime after the Medici’s occupied the palace in

Donatello’s David is not an aggressive symbol of power; it is in fact the opposite. The more lifelike size makes the statue more relatable and perhaps allowed the Renaissance people of Florence to identify with it more so than other statues, and by association, the Medici’s. Although Donatello’s David is about war, there are clear parallels that can be drawn between David and peace, and in turn, the Medici and peace . David wears a soft hat, traversed by flowers, while Goliath wears the helmet of war. In one hand, David holds the sword of Goliath, which can be seen to be visibly worn with notches and grooves on its surface, while in the other David is holding a rock which was supposedly used for his slingshot which felled the giant. In a sense, this could be a comparison which can be drawn to 14th Century Florence and the Medici, with Milan being the sword, as the aggressive and very much militarised force of the North, and Florence being the opposing weapon, the rock, and the cultured and persevering force of the