“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
― Michelangelo Buonarroti
What an awesome quote! I can see it finding a place in a picture frame in my house soon 🙂 Well, yesterday was a day of firsts for me in the art world. For the first time, I experienced an original Leonardo da Vinci painting, soaked in a plethora of Monet’s works, and got to see this original, unfinished sculpture but the great Michelangelo himself!
It is 1.46 meters tall and dates from approximately 1530. It was first commissioned for a private palace belonging to Baccio Valuri, a fierce governor of Florence. However, the work was stopped abruptly when Michelangelo left the city. The last time this sculpture made its first appearance in the United States, it did so with some fanfare—Harry S Truman’s second inauguration as POTUS, and was greeted by a Marine Color Guard standing at attention. This time, not so much but still enough to make this a distinguished work of art to grace American soil.
This is not the David that is on display in Florence. However, it is a much later and smaller work of Michelangelo’s last days of his career. Experts are divided on what the title really is: some say it is an ‘incomplete David’ and others ‘Apollo’, hence the ambiguous title. While the experts try to figure it out or accept is as a work of art that started own one path and abruptly ended up at another, I, for one, was thrilled to see it in person.
The intricate chisel marks and the smooth, flowing lines of the human body were a beauty to behold. It is evident that his passion was to work with marble. He interpreted the male form in all in this perfection in this sculpture.
If you have the chance, please go and see this beautiful statue at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Thanks for joining me on this tour 🙂 (Hmm..maybe I should really become a tour guide..hahah.)
