Michelangelo began to work on Monday morning, September 13, in a wooden shed erected for the purpose, not far from the cathedral.  On the 28th of February 1502, the statue, which is now called for the first time “the Giant, or David,” was brought so far forward that the judges declared it to be half finished, and decided that the sculptor should be paid in all 400 golden florins, including the stipulated salary.  He seems to have laboured assiduously during the next two years, for by a minute of the 25th of January 1504 the David is said to be almost entirely finished.  On this date a solemn council of the most important artists resident in Florence was convened at the Opera del Duomo to consider where it should be placed.

We possess full minutes of this meeting, and they are so curious that I shall not hesitate to give a somewhat detailed account of the proceedings.  Messer Francesco Filarete, the chief herald of the Signory, and himself an architect of some pretensions, opened the discussion in a short speech to this effect:  “I have turned over in my mind those suggestions which my judgment could afford me.  You have two places where the statue may be set up:  the first, that where the Judith stands; the second, in the middle of the courtyard where the David is.  The first might be selected, because the Judith is an omen of evil, and no fit object where it stands, we having the cross and lily for our ensign; besides, it is not proper that the woman should kill the male; and, above all, this statue was erected under an evil constellation, since you have gone continually from bad to worse since then.  Pisa has been lost too.  The David of the courtyard is imperfect in the right leg; and so I should counsel you to put the Giant in one of these places, but I give the preference myself to that of the Judith.”  The herald, it will be perceived, took for granted that Michelangelo’s David would be erected in the immediate neighbourhood of the Palazzo Vecchio.  The next speaker, Francesco Monciatto, a wood-carver, advanced the view that it ought to be placed in front of the Duomo, where the Colossus was originally meant to be put up.  He was immediately followed, and his resolution was seconded, by no less personages than the painters Cosimo Rosselli and Sandro Botticelli.  Then Giuliano da San Gallo, the illustrious architect, submitted a third opinion to the meeting.  He began his speech by observing that he agreed with those who wished to choose the steps of the Duomo, but due consideration caused him to alter his mind.  “The imperfection of the marble, which is softened by exposure to the air, rendered the durability of the statue doubtful.  He therefore voted for the middle of the Loggia dei Lanzi, where the David would be under cover.”  Messer Angelo di Lorenzo Manfidi, second herald of the Signory, rose to state a professional objection.  “The David, if erected under the middle arch of the Loggia, would break the order of the ceremonies practised there