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Michelangelo's David, carved between 1501 and 1504 from a single block of Carrara marble, is widely considered the greatest sculpture ever created. Standing 5.17 meters tall, it depicts the biblical David before his battle with Goliath — tense, alert, and supremely confident. The oversized hands and head were intentional — designed to be viewed from below.
Michelangelo was 26 when he began David, working on a marble block that had been quarried 40 years earlier and abandoned as flawed by two previous sculptors. The veins in David's hands and the tension in his body are so realistic that x-rays show Michelangelo studied human anatomy through dissection. The original stands in Florence's Accademia Gallery.
# Top 10 Michelangelo David facts
- 1Michelangelo carved David from a block of marble that two previous sculptors had abandoned as flawed
- 2He was only 26 years old when he began carving — completing it in 2 years
- 3David's right hand is disproportionately large — it was designed to be dramatic when viewed from below
Fascinating Facts
- ◆Michelangelo carved David from a block of marble that two previous sculptors had abandoned as flawed
- ◆He was only 26 years old when he began carving — completing it in 2 years
- ◆David's right hand is disproportionately large — it was designed to be dramatic when viewed from below
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