Michelangelo’s David in Florence
Posted by Avital Pinnick on August 13, 2012
This is it — the real David in the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) in Florence. No, you’re not supposed to photograph it. But I hid in a bunch of photo-snapping tourists until the guard stopped us. Safety in numbers…
Two things I hadn’t expected were the size of the statue — it’s 16 feet tall — and the amazing detail. You really can see the sinews and muscles. It’s hard to believe that Michelangelo achieved such detail with stone.
Dolled-up David in the courtyard:
Giambologna‘s gesso for his sculpture, “Rape of the Sabine Women” (1574-82). The sculpture itself is in the Loggia dei Lanzi, near the Uffizi gallery.
One of Michelangelo’s four unfinished Prisoners, intended for Pope Julius’s tomb. I’m fairly certain it’s the Atlas slave.
“Coronation of the Virgin,” by Giovanni di Marco detto Giovanni dal Ponte (Florence 1385-1437):
pam said
Wow! David is incredible. Your images are wonderful to look at although if i had taken a few shots where I was not supposed to i probably wouldn’t be telling!
I love your compositions and angles. I almost feel as if I am standing there with you.
But you could have left out that pink David in the courtyard. Who would do such a thing. Talk about absurd. In fact it is down right ugly.
Your last image of the Coronation panels – beautiful job. We must deal with the gold leaf on similar panels in churches when we are shooting weddings and wedding parties and it is tricky to avoid a glare. You have brought the gold to life which totally makes this shot. Well done.
Avital Pinnick said
Ah, yes, the glare! Were you using flash? I took that photo using only the ambient light in a dimly lit museum gallery. So I had to crank up the ISO and stand very still in order to get a successful image.
Pitti Palace, Florence « This and That said
[...] ticket, we only managed to get back on two days (the third day was the same day as our visit to the Accademia and we were too tired to do a lot of walking. This site is well worth a visit but be prepared for [...]