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...and to what venues hath your better half dragged you which you never would have considered visiting on your own?
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Well, I wouldn’t say that she had to drag me here unwillingly, but I did promise her a long look at the Statue of David, if we could go to Ghisalo to see the cycling museum.
As it turned out, there happened to be a little Cycle Cafe right across the street from where the line forms to get into the Galleria del Accademia.
Nice bike in the window!
The line was moving fast so I never got close enough to see what it was, but it looked great!
I’ve been aware of the Statue of David ever since I was a little kid, because my Mom always had this little bronze statuette sitting on our end table of our living room.
I always wondered why she had a statue of a naked man in the house, but she liked it, and she was my mom, so who was I to question her taste in decor for our home.
So, my curiosity about it, and Jana’s desire to see it, was enough for me.
I will say, that seeing this masterpiece of human creation first hand, is an absolute sight to behold.
I don’t think you could ever get tired of studying the detail and accuracy that Michelangelo employed in carving this from one very perfect piece of stone.
Everything had to be just right, and the guy nailed it!
I mean, just look at those eyes.
You can tell that he’s got Goliath right where he wants him, and you can see the shift in his posture where he’s about to shift his weight from one foot to the other, to fire the lethal shot with his sling.
The attention to detail and the movement he created out of a block of stone, is just incredible.
He really brought David to life, at a time way before any technology could.
It was said, that the statue was originally commissioned to be mounted on a pedestal high above on the facade of the Santa Maria del Flore cathedral, but when it was finished, they decided that it was too good to placed out in such an exposed space.
Michelangelo even knew that he did it so well, that he’d be hounded to make more, and the people in charge with all the wealth and power, were not the type of people you can say no to.
So, he moved up into the mountains for a few years, just to focus on his work, and get a break.
Amazing, when you think of the time this all happened.
He laid the foundations for all the artists to follow.
Only he didn’t have a Milwaukee Die Grinder and Roto Hammer.
