piazza

Molti turisti che arrivano a Firenze si domandano dove sia il David di Michelangelo.
Visto che sia al Piazzale Michelangelo che in Piazza Signoria ci sono copie (la prima in bronzo). Molti pensano sia conservato agli Uffizi.

In realtà il Davide di Michelangelo si trova alla Galleria dell’Accademia, vicino piazza San Marco, in Via Ricasoli.

E’ abbastanza facile capire dove si trova.. basta vedere la lunga fila per arrivarci! Ci sono diversi siti che offrono la possibilità di prenotare online il biglietto, saltando la coda, ma a giudicare da quanta gente sta sempre in fila, mi sa che questo servizio di booking online dei musei fiorentini è pressochè sconosciuto.

La Galleria dell’Accademia venne istituita nel 1784 dal Granduca Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena come luogo di studio e approfondimento per gli allievi dell’Accademia delle Belle Arti. Nel tempo, la Galleria si è arricchita di opere grazie anche alle donazioni di privati ed enti statali. Il museo è su 2 piani.

La prima sala è detta dell’Anticolosso: ospita l’originale in gesso del Ratto delle Sabine del Giambologna e numerosi dipinti: tra essi la Deposizione della Croce di Filippo Lippi e il Cristo in Pietà di Andrea del Sarto. Dalla prima sala si accede alla Galleria dei Prigioni che accoglie i Prigioni, opere incompiute di Michelangelo Buonarroti. In fondo alla Galleria nella Tribuna il maestoso David di Michelangelo.

I due bracci della Tribuna del David accolgono dipinti di pittori fiorentini cinquecenteschi e la Gipsoteca inaugurata nel 1985. Si trova una collezione di gessi raffiguranti membri dell’alta borghesia fiorentina e molte figure mitologiche. Seguono le sale Bizantine che ospitano gli esempi della pittura fiorentina trecentesca: numerose Formelle di Taddeo Gaddi con immagini sacre; L’Albero della Vita di Pacino di Buonaguida raffigurante episodi della vita di Cristo e Storie della Genesi. Una sala a parte è dedicata ad Andrea, Jacopo e Nardo di Cione, i fratelli Orcagna, con dipinti sacri. Al primo piano, la prima sala ospita gli esempi della pittura fiorentina trecentesca (fra cui Giovanni da Milano). La seconda sala è dedicata ad Andrea Orcagna. La terza sala ospita numerosi dipinti di Lorenzo Monaco. L’ultima sala, infine, accoglie la pittura tardogotica e gotica fiorentina; vi figurano artisti come Lorenzo Monaco e Gherardo Starnina.

Florence. The order established over the following four years received the unconditional support of Michelangelo. Also, during the same period, the artist clearly expressed his own political orientation, unlike in later work.

Twelve days after the proclamation of the republic, the Arte della Lana or Wool Guild, the wealthy corporation responsible for the maintenance and ornamentation of the Cathedral, commissioned him to sculpt a statue of David.

The high point of Michelangelo's early style is the gigantic (4.34 m/ 14.24 ft) marble David (Accademia, Florence), which he produced between 1501 and 1504, after returning to Florence. The character of David and what he symbolizes, was perfectly in tune with Michelangelo's patriotic feelings. At the time, Florence was going through a difficult period, and its citizens had to be alert and mobilized to confront permanent threats. He used David as a model of heroic courage, in the hope that the Florentines would understand his message. This young Biblical hero demonstrated that inner spiritual strength can prove to be more effective than arms. His faith in God ("The Lord is my strength and my shield.") enabled this young shepherd to overcome Israel's enemies, using a mere sling, which is the only element in the composition enabling us to identify the figure of David.

Michelangelo chose to represent David as an athletic, manly character, very concentrated and ready to fight. The extreme tension is evident in his worried look and in his right hand, holding a stone. The meaning of this David becomes fully clear if we take into consideration the historical circumstances of its creation. Michelangelo was devoted to the Republic, and wanted each citizen to become aware of his responsibilities and commit himself to accomplishing his duty.

Michelangelo wrote in his diaries: "When I returned to Florence, I found myself famous. The City Council asked me to carve a colossal David from a nineteen-foot block of marble -- and damaged to boot! I locked myself away in a workshop behind the cathedral, hammered and chiseled at the towering block for three long years. In spite of the opposition of a committee of fellow artists, I insisted that the figure should stand before the Palazzo Vecchio, as a symbol of our Republic. I had my way. Archways were torn down, narrow streets widened...it took forty men five days to move it. Once in place, all Florence was astounded. A civic hero, he was a warning...whoever governed Florence should govern justly and defend it bravely. Eyes watchful...the neck of a bull...hands of a killer...the body, a reservoir of energy. He stands poised to strike."

With this statue Michelangelo proved to his contemporaries that he not only surpassed all modern artists, but also the Greeks and Romans, by infusing formal beauty with powerful expressiveness and meaning.

The terrible Julius II
When Giuliano della Rovere was elected to the papal seat in 1503, he was already an old man. Consequently, everyone expected a pontificate of passage. But Julius II (this was the name he chose) nursed an ambitious plan and did everything he could to realize it, demonstrating an extraordinary vitality in this. He understood the role of the pope in extremely authoritative terms, and conducted himself according to this ideal, trying to restore the papal state to greatness. His papacy saw not only intense political, social, and military activity, but also some major artistic commissions, which directly affected the urban fabric of Rome. In his role as a patron, Julius II showed an extraordinary audacity and assurance in the choice of the artistic talents to whom he turned: Bramante and Michelangelo, Raphael and the Sangallos, Peruzzi and Bramantino, Sodoma and Lorenzo Lotto were among the many artists who worked for him.

Michelangelo's temper was proverbial. It seems that Pope Julius II had told Sebastiano del Piombo that he "is Terrible, as you see, you can do nothing with him." In fact all the sources refer to his brusque and rude manners, his difficult character, his touchiness and intransigence, and the difficulties that he often had in his relations with others. He had no pupils, nor constant collaborators, and always used boys from the workshop as his assistants.

The enmity between him and Leonardo da Vinci is famous. There were over twenty years of difference in age between them and Leonardo, on his return to Florence at the age of fifty, was confident of regaining the position due to him in the artistic world of the city. And he was in fact received with great honors, but had to reckon with the fame of Michelangelo, the rising star whose name was on everyone's lips and who had already received the commission for the David from the Republic.

The friction between the two is related by the Anonymous Magliabechian Author, who tells of an amusing episode that took place in Florence. One day, Michelangelo ran into Leonardo on the Santa Trinità bridge. The latter, accompanied by a group of friends, refused a request to recite a passage from Dante. Leonardo then turned to Michelangelo, asking him to recite the passage, but Buonarroti scornfully replied that he should do it, seeing that when he was unable to do something he was in the habit of running away, as he had done in Milan with the equestrian monument for Ludovico il Moro.

Michelangelo, The Painter
While still occupied with the David, Michelangelo was given an opportunity to demonstrate his ability as a painter with the commission of a mural, the Battle of Cascina, destined for the Sala dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio, opposite Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari. Neither artist carried his assignment beyond the stage of a cartoon, a full-scale preparatory drawing. Michelangelo created a series of nude and clothed figures in a wide variety of poses and positions that are a prelude to his next major project, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. From these years date the Bruges Madonna (Notre Dame, Bruges) and the painted tondo of the Holy Family (Uffizi).