And, no, I’m not talking about the President’s overdue speech tonight with (hopefully) details about the transition to a sovereign Iraq. (Names! Mr. President…we want names!)
I’m talking about something a bit more sublime:
Gallery Finishes Restoration of ‘David’
And, for the curious, some details about the (suspected) rationale behind David’s infamously surrealistic proportions and anomolies. The most obvious and widely known, of course, being that:
One thing is certain: The David was meant to be viewed from a distance and from below. It was originally placed on a pedestal the surface height of which reached a man’s head. If we assume this pedestal to have stood 5 feet tall, and the statue is 17 feet tall, David’s head would be 23 feet in the air. Michelangelo knew this and so adjusted the anomalies to appear in proper proportion to those who would view the statue from a distance and from below.
Thanks, Edward, for the nice break from the Bush outrage marathon.
Both articles were interesting. I was especially interested in why his hand is disproportionate to the body (and not other parts, except the head).
James Beck at Columbia seems like the kind of prof. that word of mouth on campus would suggest avoiding for a class if you had any opinion about anything.
I’d like to see John Ashcroft give a speech in front of THAT!
Hm, maybe this is what it would look like. Someone put David in a Burqa! http://www.leftrightleft.org/gotcha.jpg
Yeah, but the Accademia is, like, the worst museum ever, aside from that and The Prisoners.
My husband thought that some of the abnormalities were to demonstrate that this is still an adolescent, and he has not yet grown into his body. I liked that explanation, though I certainly would not vouch for it.
In any case, it is amazing how little it is diminished by all the lawn ornaments, refrigerator magnets, textbook pictures and God knows what other reproductions you’ve seen, when you see it in person.