MMaxi Madeiraman

Niccolo Macchiaveli
1469-1527

In the late 1400’s, the Medici family lost power in Florence. Niccolo Machiavelli served in the new Florentine governing power structure, rising to a high position. In about 1512, the Medici’s regained their power base in Florence. Machiavelli, not in their favor, devoted the remainder of his life to writing. There is some speculation that his books were aimed at securing a de Medici patron. His most famous book, The Prince, is dedicated to ' Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De' Medici'.

This is a copy in front of the Palazzo Vechio, the original is in the Galleria dell' Accademia
I visited the original and it was a truly great experience, I love all kinds of sculpture but Michelangelo's David is right there at the top of my favorits.

Michelangelo's David, sculpted from 1500 to 1504, is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture and one of Michelangelo's two greatest works of sculpture, along with the Pietà. However, it is the David alone that almost certainly holds the title of the most recognizable statue in the history of art. It has become regarded as a symbol both of strength and youthful human beauty. The 5.17 meter (17 ft) marble statue portrays the Biblical King David at the moment that he decides to do battle with Goliath. It came to symbolise the Florentine Republic, an independent city state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states. This interpretation was also encouraged by the original setting of the sculpture outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence. The completed sculpture was unveiled on 8 September 1504.

Michelangelo's David is based on the artistic discipline of disegno, which is built on knowledge of the male human form. Under this discipline, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because it mimics divine creation. Because Michelangelo adhered to the concepts of disegno, he worked under the premise that the image of David was already in the block of stone he was working on — in much the same way as the human soul is thought by some to be found within the physical body. It is also an example of the contrapposto style of posing the human figure.
The proportions are not quite true to the human form; the head and upper body are somewhat larger than the proportions of the lower body. While some have suggested that this is of the mannerist style, the most commonly accepted explanation is that the statue was originally intended to be placed on a church façade or high pedestal, and that the proportions would appear correct when the statue was viewed from some distance below.
There was controversy over the statue's supposed Biblical reference, since the statue seemed to portray an uncircumcised male, whereas the historical King David was undoubtedly circumcised. Because of this, some art historians believed that "David" was actually the name of the model who posed for the statue, rather than King David himself, and that Michelangelo claimed the Biblical reference to make it acceptable to the Christian world. It was also suggested that this was a conscious decision in Michelangelo's endeavor to emulate the ancient Greek aesthetic ideals, which regarded the circumcised penis as mutilated.