BARGELLO, FLORENCE]

[Sidenote:  The Bronze David.]

According to Vasari, the Bronze David was made for Cosimo before the exile of the Medici, and consequently previous to Donatello’s second journey to Rome.  It was removed from the courtyard of the palace to the Palazzo Pubblico, where it remained for many years.  Doni mentions it as being there in 1549,[136] and soon afterwards it was replaced by Verrocchio’s fountain of the Boy squeezing the Dolphin.  It is now in the Bargello.  The base has been lost.  Albertini says it was made of variegated marbles.[137] Vasari says it was a simple column.[138] It has been suggested that the marble pillar now supporting the Judith belonged to the David, but the David is even less fitted to this ill-conceived and pedantic shaft than Judith herself.  The David soon acquired popularity; the French envoy, Pierre de Rohan, wanted a copy of it.  It was certainly a remarkable innovation, being probably the first free-standing nude statue made in Italy for a thousand years.  There had been countless nude figures in relief, but the David was intended to be seen from every side of Cosimo’s cortile.  There was no experimental stage with Donatello; his success was immediate and indeed conclusive.  David is a stripling.  He stands over the head of Goliath, a sword in one hand and a stone in the other, wearing his helmet, a sort of sun-hat in bronze which is decorated with a chaplet of leaves; below his feet is a wreath of bay.  It is a consistent study in anatomy.  The David is perhaps sixteen years old, agile and supple, with a hand which is big relative to the forearm, as nature ordains.  The back is bony and rather angular; the torso is brilliantly wrought, with a purity of outline and a morbidezza which made the artists in Vasari’s time believe the figure had been moulded from life.  One might break the statue into half a dozen pieces, and every fragment would retain its vitality and significance.  The limbs are alert and full of young strength, with plenty more held in reserve:  it is heroic in all respects except dimension.  The face is clear cut, and each feature is rendered with precision.  The expression is one of dreamy contemplation as he looks downwards on the spoils and proof of conquest.  David hath slain his tens of thousands!  Finally the quality of the statue is enhanced by the care with which the bronze has been chiselled.  Goliath’s helmet, and David’s greaves, on which the fleur de lys florencee has been damascened, are decorated with unfailing tact.  The embellishment is in itself a pleasure to the eye, but it is prudently contained within its legitimate sphere; for Donatello would not allow the accessory to invade the statue itself, which is the chief fault of the rival David by Verrocchio.  Donatello’s statue marks an epoch in the study of anatomy.  It is a genuine interpretation of a very perfect piece of humanity; but his knowledge compared with that of his successors