David

I wrote the following about two statues of David who slew Golaith. I hope you enjoy being introduced to Bernini’s statue, if you don’t know it already.

Michelangelo’s David is one of the most recognizable artworks in the world. Its fame is so widespread and it is so greatly loved because of its incredible beauty and grand size. However, in its shadow hides another statue of David, sculpted by Bernini. This statue, although very famous, does not have the widespread fame of Michelangelo’s. After being introduced to this statue of David, I decided that I like it more than Michelangelo’s version because of its realistic size, intense emotion, and use of dramatic lines to move the viewer’s eye.

Michelangelo’s David is eighteen feet tall, about three times the size of a man. In fact, he is about twice as tall as Goliath is supposed to have been. To me, this does not make sense. I understand the symbolism of representing David as a giant to signify his awesomeness, bravery, and general greatness. But to me the whole point of the tale of David and Goliath is that David was small. The only reason he was able to kill Goliath was because he trusted God to help him. Looking at Michelangelo’s David, one is unable to imagine a bigger giant for him to contend with, and so he has no reason to be brave. Bernini’s David, however, is life-size. This seems to allow the viewer to better imagine what David is fighting and how scary it is. In doing this it gives a clearer picture of how brave David really is, to be willing to face the giant even though he himself is of normal size.

The intense emotion on David’s face is probably my favorite aspect of the Bernini statue. Although Michelangelo’s David has a pretty intense stare, it is not nearly so emotional as Bernini’s. Like the statue, I myself tend to screw up my face when performing a task that requires a lot of focus. David bites his lip, knits his brows, and stares so intently at his enemy that one might try to follow his gaze. This gaze shows an intense desire and concentration that gives David a much more realistic and heroic attitude than the Michelangelo version, who appears to be thinking about killing Goliath rather than actually trying to.

Bernini created lines in his sculpture that emphasize David’s physical tension and force the viewer to walk around the statue. Starting at the front, the viewer’s eye first looks at David’s face, then moves down his curved arm, forcing the viewer to walk around to see the hand. Once the hand is visible, the viewer follows the taut sling, continuing to walk around, until he sees the other hand. At this point the viewer is nearly halfway around the statue. Michelangelo’s David does not involve the viewer in this way. Also, the curved lines of David’s limbs and taut muscles contribute to the intense focus and emotion of the face. He literally looks wound up and ready to explode. All of these aspects illustrate the story of David and Goliath better than the contemplative, relaxed pose of Michelangelo’s David.

Although I love Michelangelo’s David for its awesome presence and beauty, I enjoy Bernini’s David more because it is a better representation of the story and of David himself. David was a passionate, emotional guy, from what I can tell. After all, he was the one who “danced before the Lord with all his might…girded with a linen ephod,” (2 Sam. 6:14). He was the man who fearlessly killed a lion and a giant, who wrote psalms, who had to have Bathsheba, and who spent much of his life repenting for something that he knew could not be forgiven. I do not think of him as a cool, rational thinker like the man depicted in Michelangelo’s statue. He is much more exciting than that.