You recognize this famous work of art. What is it called, and who created it?
A. David
Michelangelo
B. Jonathan
Raphael
C. Gideon
Leonardo da Vinci
D. David
Donatello
E. Joshua
Andrea del Verrocchio
067
Answer: (D)
David, sculpted by Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (c. 1386–1466)—better known as Donatello—was the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance and the first freestanding nude male sculpture since antiquity. Crafted from bronze and standing 5.1 feet tall, David is completely nude except for his hat and boots. This is Donatello’s second statue of David; an earlier, more clothed version of the famous biblical hero was made from marble. Both are currently housed in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy.
Most likely cast in the 1440s, it is unknown who commissioned this bronze statue. Many assume it was the famous Medici Family—specifically Cosimo de’ Medici, a friend and patron of Donatello. Regardless of the commissioner’s identity, David rested in the courtyard of the Medici mansion—the Palazzo Medici—by 1469. Cosimo is known to have commissioned another of Donatello’s bronze decapitation-themed sculptures, Judith and Holofernes, which was displayed in the gardens of the Palazzo Medici.
After the Medici family was exiled from Florence in the 1490s, the statue moved around to several venues (including the town hall of Florence) before finally finding a permanent home in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in 1865.
You recognize this famous work of art. What is it called, and who created it?
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