Michelangelo Beauty Stands Formal Analysis

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Recommended: The medici family

Madni Polani
Professor Kirk
RHET 1302.036
12 September 2017
Beauty Stands in the Ideal Form
The Republican ideal of freedom in Florence, Italy returned after the Medici Family was overthrown from political tyranny. Originally, the city of Florence commissioned the already known artist, Michelangelo, to create a statue for the roof of the Duomo - the main cathedral of Florence - which could be seen all the way up on top of the cathedral. After Michelangelo completed the new artifact, the government of Florence decided to place the beautiful sculpture in the main Piazza of Signoria, which was the government building in Florence. Michelangelo uses allusion to portray a biblical reference to David and Goliath, leading to an everlasting emotional …show more content…

Michelangelo merged the different stylistic elements to augment an alluring piece of art. Michelangelo catches the audience’s eye by presenting David as a nude and nearly three times the size of a regular human being. The idea of the nude is so the audience can visualize what the meaning of a perfect human being looks like. Through the nude Michelangelo is easily able to depict the vivid details of the human body. Michelangelo is able to show the physical beauty of man through the emphasis on the body as David is depicted as masculine. If one was to look closer they would be able to detect the veins popping on David’s arms. Not just one part of his body but David’s entire figure including his legs are masculine. The body is seen in a contrapposto stance which is when the weight of the body is placed on the right leg while the left leg stands free, which allows the hips and shoulder to be at rest at different angles. The contrapposto creates a slight s-curve to the torso which was a common form for sculptors during the Italian Renaissance era. Michelangelo incorporates the use of topos by keeping the traditional convention of the s-curve form of the Italian Renaissance era so he can better connect with the common styles known to his audience which therefore makes his logical appeal of a man’s body being aesthetic easily acknowledged (Harris, Zucker). The masculine body and the exaggerated size of the statue enables Michelangelo to show the heroism that man is capable of because from the time the statue brings a resemblance to the Greek hero and God; Hercules, who fought off his enemy’s through his sheer strength. This in connection makes Florence the new Rome as they conquered the tyrannical rule in their city. The masculinity reinforces the proportionality of the human body, which both lead to the logical

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