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978-1-107-04359-6 - Michelangelo’s David: Florentine History and Civic Identity
John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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MICHELANGELO’S DAVID
This book takes a new look at the interpretations of, and the historical
information surrounding, Michelangelo’s David. New documentary materials discovered by Rolf Bagemihl add to the early history of the stone block
that became the David and provide an identity for the painted terracotta
colossus that stood on the Cathedral buttresses for which Michelangelo’s
statue was to be a companion. The David, with its placement at the Palazzo
della Signoria, was deeply entwined in the civic history of Florence, where
public nakedness played a ritual role in the military and in the political lives
of its people. This book, then, places the David not only within the artistic
history of Florence and its monuments but also within the popular culture
of the period.
John T. Paoletti is Professor of the History of Art, Emeritus, and the William
R. Kenan Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, at Wesleyan University. He
taught the history of Italian Renaissance art and of the art of the twentieth
century there from 1972 to 2009. He received Wesleyan’s Binswanger Prize
for Excellence in Teaching and the College Art Association’s Distinguished
Teaching of Art History Award. He has been a Fellow at the School of
Historical Studies, the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton and a visiting professor at the Villa I Tatti, the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies
in Florence. From 1996 to 2000, he was the editor in chief of The Art
Bulletin. He is coauthor, with Gary Radke, of Art in Renaissance Italy, now in
its fourth edition. He is coeditor, with Roger Crum, of Renaissance Florence:
A Social History (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
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John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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Michelangelo, David, 1501–1504, marble, 516 cm h. (672 cm with the
base), Florence, Accademia (Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY)
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978-1-107-04359-6 - Michelangelo’s David: Florentine History and Civic Identity
John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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MICHELANGELO’S DAVID
FLORENTINE HISTORY
AND CIVIC IDENTITY
JOHN T. PAOLETTI
with documents newly transcribed and edited by
ROLF BAGEMIHL
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978-1-107-04359-6 - Michelangelo’s David: Florentine History and Civic Identity
John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
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© John T. Paoletti 2015
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2015
Printed in the United States of America
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Paoletti, John T., author.
Michelangelo’s David : Florentine history and civic identity / John T. Paoletti;
with documents newly transcribed and edited by Rolf Bagemihl.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-04359-6 (hardback)
1. Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475–1564. David. 2. Art and society – Italy – Florence –
History – 16th century. 3. Florence (Italy) – Symbolic representation. 4. Florence
(Italy) – Politics and government – 1421–1737. I. Bagemihl, Rolf. II. Title.
NB623.B9A64 2014b
730.92–dc23
2014033159
ISBN
978-1-107-04359-6 Hardback
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John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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978-1-107-04359-6 - Michelangelo’s David: Florentine History and Civic Identity
John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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John T. Paoletti and Rolf Bagemihl
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CONTENTS
List of Figures
INTRODUCTION
1. THE COMMISSION AND HISTORY OF THE DAVID
Box 1.1. The 1504 Advisory Committee
Box 1.2. Chronology for the David
2. DAVID , NARRATIVE AMBIGUITY, AND THE
COMPETITION WITH ANTIQUITY
3. THE DAVID AND SCULPTURE AT THE CATHEDRAL
Box 3.1. Chronology of Sculpture at the Cathedral and Baptistry
at the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century
4. DAVID AND THE SYMBOLS OF THE STATE AT THE
PALAZZO DELLA SIGNORIA
Box 4.1. Chronology of Decorative and Sculptural Programs at
the Palazzo della Signoria and Associated Historical Events
5. NAKED MEN IN PIAZZA
Appendix A. Concerning Michelangelo’s David and Other
Related Commissions
Part 1: Original Documents for Michelangelo’s
David and Its Predecessors
Part 2:Translation of Documents for Michelangelo’s
David and Its Predecessors
Appendix B. Report of the Committee to Advise on the Placement
of the David:Transcription and Translation
Notes
Bibliography
Index
page viii
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FIGURES
Frontispiece. Michelangelo, David, 1501–1504, marble, 516 cm h.
(672 cm with the base), Florence, Accademia
1. Michelangelo, Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths, c. 1492, marble,
84.5 × 90.5 cm, Florence, Casa Buonarroti, Inv. 194
2. Michelangelo, Bacchus, 1496–1497, marble, 195 cm h. (209 cm with
the base), Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Inv. S.10
3. Cartoon from 1872 showing the David in a protective box
4. Advertisement for Uncensored Month, Channel 102, New York City,
The New York Times, June 2007
5. View of the Piazza della Signoria from the Via Calzaiuoli
6. Nanni di Banco, Isaiah, 1408, marble, 190 cm (75″) h., Florence,
Cathedral
7. Attributed to Donatello, Prophet, c. 1409, marble, 188 cm (74″) h.,
Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (shown in reverse)
8. Donatello, David, c. 1416 (?), marble, 191 cm (75 1/4″) h., Florence,
Museo Nazionale del Bargello
9. Stefano Bonsignori, Nova pulcherrimae civitatis Florentiae topographia
accuratissima delineata, 1584, engraving, detail showing the Cathedral,
Florence, Museo di Firenze Com’era
10. Fiberglass reproduction of the David in place on the buttress of the
Duomo of Florence in November 2010
11. Donatello, Judith and Holofernes, c. 1464–1466, bronze, 236 cm h.
(statue without base), Florence, Palazzo Vecchio, Sala dei Gigli
(formerly in the garden courtyard of the Medici Palace)
12. Domenico del Ghirlandaio, Confirmation of the Franciscan
Rule by Pope Onorius III, detail, 1483–1486, fresco, Florence, Santa
Trinita, Sassetti Chapel
13. Donatello, David, c. 1460–1469, bronze, 159 cm h., Florence, Museo
Nazionale del Bargello (formerly in the courtyard of the Medici
Palace, and, after 1495, in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria)
14. Andrea del Verrocchio, David, c. 1463–1465, bronze with partial
gilding, 125 cm h., Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
(formerly at the entrance of the Sala dei Gigli in the Palazzo della
Signoria). The photograph shows the head of Goliath displaced from
between the feet of the figure, as it was shown after the completion
of the restoration in 2003
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ix
FI GURES
15. Photomontage showing the David located in the central arch of the
Loggia della Signoria
16. Fra Angelico, SS. Cosmas and Damian before the Sultan Lycias, panel
from the predella of the San Marco Altarpiece, c. 1439–1440, tempera
on poplar, 37.8 × 46.6 cm, Munich, Alte Pinakotek, Inv. WAF 36
17. Michelangelo, David, 1501–1504, seen from behind, Florence,
Accademia
18. Giovan Iacopo de’ Rossi, Acceptance Speech of the Gonfaloniere
Giovambattista Ridolfi from the Ringhiera of the Palazzo della Signoria
in 1512, after Raphael’s border for the tapestry of The Death of
Ananias, made by Pieter van Aelst; published in P. S. Bartoli, Leonis X
Admirandae virtutis imagines…, Rome, c. 1690, plate 12
19. Michelangelo, David, detail of left arm and hand showing cracks in
the marble from the damage of 1527
20. Illustration from Nuova Illustrazione, January 18, 1874, showing David
being moved in 1873 to the Accademia
21. Michelangelo, David, view from the left side
22. Raphael, Drawing after Michelangelo’s David, c. 1504–1508, pen and
brown ink with faint traces of underdrawing in black chalk,
39.3 × 21.9 cm, London, The British Museum, Department of
Prints and Drawings
23. Leonardo da Vinci, Sketches for a Figure of Neptune with Seahorses and
a Palace, c. 1503–1508, charcoal or soft black chalk, partly reworked
with pen and brown ink, 27 × 20.1 cm., Windsor, Royal Library,
no. 12591 recto
24. Mariano del Buono, illumination for Giovanni di Paolo da Castro,
Expositio in Psalmum ‘Miserere mei Deus,’ c. 1466, Florence, Biblioteca
Medicea Laurenziana, Ms. Plut. 19.27, c 23v., Su concessione del
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali; the figure accompanies
an independent letter within the bound volume dedicated to Piero
di Cosimo de’ Medici, Divo Petro Magni Cosme de Medicis Johannes
Castrensis humili cum commendatione salutem [fols. 21v–23r]
25. Michelangelo, drawing of his bronze David, c. 1503, brown ink on
paper with traces of black chalk, 262 × 185 cm, Paris, Louvre, Inv. n. 714r
26. Michelangelo, St. Matthew, c. 1503–1512, marble, 271 cm h., Florence,
Accademia
27. Antonio Rossellino, St. Sebastian, c. 1475, Empoli, Museo del
Collegiata di Sant’Andrea
28. Michelangelo, David, detail of right hand
29. Master of the St. John Statuettes, David, late fifteenth–early sixteenth
century, terracotta, 50 cm h., Washington, National Gallery of Art,
Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.81
30. Michelangelo, Day, c. 1526–1534, marble, 285 cm wide, Florence, San
Lorenzo, New Sacristy, detail from the Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici
31. Lorenzo and Vittorio Ghiberti (with assistants), Adam, c. 1453–
1463/64, bronze, Florence, San Giovanni, left reveal of the south door
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FI GURES
32. Antonio Rizzo, Adam, after 1483 (?), marble, 202 cm,Venice, Palazzo
Ducale (originally on the Arco Foscari in the courtyard of the
Palazzo Ducale)
33. Tullio Lombardo, Adam, c. 1490–1494, marble, New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 36.163 (formerly
Venice, SS. Giovanni e Paolo,Vendramin Tomb)
34. Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, c. 1426, fresco,
Florence, Santa Maria del Carmine, Brancacci Chapel, left wall of
entrance arch
35. Michelangelo Temptation of Adam and Eve and the Expulsion of Adam
and Eve from Paradise, c. 1510, fresco,Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, ceiling
36. Masolino, Temptation of Adam and Eve, c. 1424–1427, fresco, Florence,
Santa Maria del Carmine, Brancacci Chapel, right wall of entrance arch
37. Nicola Pisano, Hercules/Daniel, 1260, marble, Pisa, Baptistry, detail
from marble pulpit
38. Hercules, c. 1395–1397, marble, Florence, Cathedral, left reveal of the
Porta della Mandorla
39. Antonio Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Anteus, c. 1475, tempera and oil on
panel, 16 × 9 cm, Florence, Uffizi
40. Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Anteus, c. 1475, bronze, 45 cm h.,
Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
41. Andrea Pisano, Hercules and Cacus, late 1330s–early 1340s, marble,
32 3/4 × 27 1/8″ (83 × 69 cm.), Florence, Museo dell’Opera del
Duomo (formerly on the Campanile of the Florence Cathedral)
42. Michelangelo, David, detail of the tree stump
43. Niccolò Soggi, Hercules at the Crossroads, c. 1512–1514, oil on poplar,
71 × 193 cm, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie, Inv #I.216
44. Hercules, second century BCE gilt bronze, 2.40 m., Rome, Palazzo
dei Conservatori
45. Philip Galle after Martin van Heemskerk, Colossus of Rhodes from
Las siete maravillas de la antigüedad, c. 1530, engraving, Kansas City, The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
46. Michelangelo, Pietà, 1498–1499, Rome, St. Peter’s, detail of Mary’s
belt showing Michelangelo’s signature
47. Michelangelo, Battle of Cascina, c. 1505, chalk and silver on paper,
2.35 × 356 cm (9 1/4 × 14″ ), Florence, Uffizi, Gabinetto dei Disegni
e delle Stampe
48. Andrea Sansovino, Baptism of Christ, 1502–1505, Florence, Museo
dell’Opera del Duomo (formerly over the east door of the Baptistry)
49. Giovan Francesco Rustici, Preaching of the Baptist, 1506–1511, bronze,
Florence, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (formerly over the north
door of the Baptistry)
50. Andrea del Verrocchio (and Leonardo da Vinci), The Baptism of
Christ, c. 1472, oil and tempera on wood, Florence, Uffizi
51. Jacopo Sansovino, St. James, 1511–1518, marble, Florence, Cathedral
52. Andrea Ferrucci, St. Andrew, 1512–1514, marble, Florence, Cathedral
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FI GURES
53. Donatello, Abraham and Isaac, c. 1421 marble, 191 cm h., Florence,
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
54. Benedetto da Rovezzano, St. John the Evangelist, 1513–1514, marble,
Florence, Cathedral
55. Bernardo Ciuffagni, King David, 1433, marble, Florence, Cathedral
56. Baccio Bandinelli, St. Peter, 1515–1517, marble, Florence, Cathedral
57. Donatello, St. Mark, c. 1411–1413, marble, Florence, Museo di Or San
Michele (originally for the niche of the Linen Workers’ Guild, on
the south side of Or San Michele)
58. Giovanni Toscani, Feast of St. John the Baptist, cassone panel, tempera
on panel, early fifteenth century, Florence, Museo Nazionale del Bargello
59. Bicci di Lorenzo, St.Thomas, c. 1436, fresco, Florence, Cathedral
60. Plan of the Cathedral of Florence showing dedication of altars of the
tribunes (modified from Giovanni Poggi, Il Duomo di Firenze)
61. Bertoldo di Giovanni, Medal of the Pazzi Conspiracy, 1478, bronze,
London, The British Museum, CM1896,1106.1
62. Baccio Bandinelli, Orpheus, 1519, marble, Florence, Palazzo Medici,
courtyard
63. Tivoli General, late second or early first century BCE, marble,
194 cm, Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
64. View of Old St. Peter’s, detail, Rome,Vatican Palace, Quartiere delle
Guardie Nobili (Apartment of Julius III), fresco, c. 1555–1559
65. Martin van Heemskerk, Lansquenets in Front of Castel Sant’Angelo,
engraving from Victorias de Carlos V – Clemente VII Cercado en el
Castillo de Sant Angelo – 1527 – Saqueo de Roma, after 1555, engraving,
Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Coleccion
66. Florence, Palazzo della Signoria, view of the main portal showing
the David paired with Baccio Bandinelli’s Hercules and Cacus, put in
place in 1534
67. Florence, Loggia della Signoria, detail of pier showing lion heads
68. Convenevole da Prato, Florentia, Codex Robertum Siciliae Regiem (also
known as The Panegyric of Robert of Anjou), c. 1320–1336, London,
British Museum, ms. Royal 6 .E. IX, fol. 13
69. Niccolò di Forzore Spinelli [Niccolò Fiorentino], Medal of Lorenzo
de’ Medici, c. 1490, bronze, 9 cm diam., New York, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Ann and George Blumenthal Fund, 1950.58.4
70. Hercules and Telephus (sometimes referred to as Hercules Commodus),
Roman copy of a Greek bronze statue of the fourth century BCE,
marble,Vatican,Vatican Museums, Museo Chiramonti
71. Giovanni Stradanus, detail of Presentation of Leo X’s gift of a papal
hat and sword to the Priors of Florence, c. 1560–1561, fresco, Florence,
Palazzo Vecchio, Room of Leo X, basamento
72. Parade “giants” in the procession for the feast of St. Firmin,
Pamplona
73. Flight into Egypt from Meditations on the Life of Christ, fourteenth
century, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Ms. Ital. 115, fol. 39v
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FI GURES
74. Filippo Lippi, Studio nudes, 1475, silverpoint on prepared paper,
Oxford, Christ Church Picture Gallery (pasted into a portfolio of
drawings for his collection by Giorgio Vasari)
75. Michelangelo, Mercury/Apollo, c. 1496–1501, ink on paper, Paris,
Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques, inv. n. 688 recto
76. Michelangelo, Nude, after 1513, marble, 7′ 6″ h., Paris, Musée du
Louvre; originally created for the tomb of Julius II
77. Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti and others, on designs
probably provided by Cosmè Tura, Hall of the months, detail of April
and May, 1469–1470, fresco, Ferrara, Palazzo Schifanoia
78. Jerome Cock, after Martin van Heemskerk, Sack of Rome and the
Death of Charles de Bourbon, from Divi Caroli V Imp. opt max victoriae,
1555, copper engraving
79. Lippo Vanni, Victory of the Sienese Troops at the Val di Chiana in 1363,
c. 1364 (?), fresco, Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, Sala del Mappamondo
80. After Antonio Pollaiuolo, Battle of the Naked Men, c. 1490 (after
original, c. 1465–1470), engraving, 40 × 58 cm, New Haven,Yale
University Art Gallery, Maitland F. Griggs, B.A. 1896, Fund, 1951.9.18
81. Andrea del Sarto, Two Men Hanging Upside Down, 1530, red chalk
on cream paper, 20.6 × 19.2 cm, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire,
Devonshire Collection
82. Death and Mutilation of Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham
[1265], late thirteenth century, vellum, from the Commendatio
Lamentabilis in transitu Edward IV, London, British Library, Cotton
MS Nero D ii, fol. 177
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