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Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 4
Lesson 2: VerrocchioVerrocchio, David with the Head of Goliath
Andrea del Verrocchio, David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1465, bronze with gilding, 126 cm high (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence)
A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker at the Bargello. Created by Smarthistory.
Video transcript
(jazzy music) - [Steven] We're in the
Bargello in Florence, looking at Verrocchio's "David." Now, this was sculpted
probably two decades or so after the David that was
created also in bronze by Donatello. - [Beth] There are a lot of
Davids in Renaissance Florence. - [Steven] And David
was a popular subject, both because David is an
important biblical figure that slays Goliath and then
goes on to become king, but also because of the
symbolism that it holds for the city of Florence. - [Beth] David was an underdog
who defeated his enemy because of God's favor,
and for this reason, both the wealthy banking
family of the Medici and the government of Florence
identified with David. And this particular David was commissioned by the Medici family. - [Steven] Now this
was made by Verrocchio, who is both a sculptor and a painter, and is perhaps most famous because he had a large
workshop in Florence that included among other students, the young Leonardo da Vinci, who learned to paint under
Verrocchio's tutelage. Verrocchio represents the moment immediately after the battle. This young shepherd boy
has decided to take on a cause that none of the
older men among the Israelites are willing to take on, that is to do battle
with the giant, Goliath. - [Beth] So the odds are
completely against David and it is God's favor
that makes him victorious, but you wouldn't know that
from looking at this sculpture because Verrochio gives us a
very self-assured young man. - [Steven] David has
struck Goliath with a stone between his eyes. His foe falls and the young
David takes the giant's sword and severs his neck, and we see that head functioning as a trophy
just beside his ankles. But what strikes me most
about this sculpture is how different it is from
Donatello's earlier version, which is just about the same scale. Here, Verrocchio's figure
seems wiry and bony and much more realistic. Donatello's figure, for
all of its naturalism, was idealized. It recalls a classical beauty, and it seems as if
Verrocchio is almost throwing that classicism out the window, as if he's found a 14-year-old boy on the streets of Florence and has brought him into the studio. There is a kind of veracity here that is lacking in the
more classicized work of the earlier artist, Donatello. - [Beth] They both stand in contrapposto, that pose borrowed from
ancient Greek and Roman art that is putting the weight on one leg, relaxing the other leg, the movement of the hips and shoulders that happens as a result. So both figures recall
classical antiquity. Both have a sense of
naturalistic movement. Both artists are thinking
about human anatomy and representing that naturalistically, like a real adolescent boy. - [Steven] But there's still beauty here. Look at the contrast that Verrocchio draws between the beautiful face of David and the gnarled wounded face of Goliath. - [Beth] If you just
just look at the boniness of that left elbow, you can see
the interest is in capturing that the specificity of
that adolescent boy's arm. And that's more important to him than a beautiful sinuous line that could have been
created from that arm. - [Steven] After the sculpture
was delivered to the Medici, it would eventually be
sold to the Signoria, that is sold to the city of Florence and placed in the
Signoria in the town hall. - [Beth] A reminder of
the importance of David for both private and government
patronage in Florence. (jazzy music)