Humanities Homework: Renaissance Blog Post

Michelangelo and Donatello’s David sculptures differ in many ways.  First, I do agree that Michelangelo’s was Apollonian and Donatello’s Passionate Individualistic.  You can see the difference in the form that each was sculpted; Michelangelo’s has a very objective view and definition to it; the plainness and simplicity of it, made of marble, and built so David’s stance is fearless and bold.  He sculpted David to look at ease, with the sling over his shoulder and looking outward, with no obvious sign whether it was depicting the before or after he killed the giant.  This sculpture is also more of a mature man, very God-like with a very distinct and “perfect” form of the human body.

 Donatello’s on the other hand, has the passionate look to it.  Sculpted with bronze instead of marble, Donatello’s David is more of a young peasant boy.  Though both pieces are very detailed, this David is smoother in the way of his stance, how he is holding a sword looking down at the giant’s head at his feet, with his head down, showing that he obviously had already killed the giant.  Another difference is Michelangelo’s David has the tree at his feet for stability, bare foot and naked, where Donatello’s David has boots and a hat on, but is naked; and though there is a time difference between when these two pieces were made that could explain the reasoning to it, you still wonder what the significance to that is.

There are a few ways that these models reflect the Renaissance World View.  With this time being the “rebirth” you can see the new and difference techniques used in these sculptures.  When I googled these sculptures, many pictures came up of each in different angles, which I think reflects the Renaissance.  It shows that they were sculpting these to look more life-like from every angle possible.  There is also a lot of blending with math and science, the size and shape of the figure with the anatomy side of it as well.