David is a marble statue by Michelangelo, carved in Florence between 1501 and 1504 and standing more than five metres tall. The sculptor was given a huge block of Carrara marble that two earlier artists had started to work and abandoned. He showed the biblical hero not in triumph after killing Goliath, but in the tense moment before the fight, with a sling over his shoulder and his gaze fixed on the enemy. The statue was placed in the Piazza della Signoria, the square in front of the town hall, where it stood as a symbol of the Florentine Republic's defiance of its more powerful neighbours. In 1873 it was moved indoors to the Galleria dell'Accademia to protect it from the weather, and a copy now stands in the square.
Before and after
- 24 June 1497John Cabot reaches North America
- from 1498 to 1975Portuguese Mozambique
- 1499Pietà (Michelangelo)
- from 15th century to 18th centuryAge of Discovery
- c. 1500sDavid
- c. 1500Modern period
- 15th centuryConstruction of Red Square
- from 15th century to 18th centuryEarly modern period
- from 1500 to 1785Khanate of Bukhara
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The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 15th century.