Michelangelo’s “David” on the Verge

This week, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Michelangelo’s 17-foot tall, marble sculpture of the Old Testament figure David has weak ankles and is on the verge of collapsing. The National Research Council found cracks in the marble on the weight-bearing tree trunk (called a strut) attached to the sculpture’s right leg and in the figure’s ankles. The Council stated that an earthquake or even heavy road construction could cause the sculpture to tumble down. It has been suggested that Florentine officials move David from the Galleria dell’Accademia, where the sculpture was placed in 1873, to a setting outside the city of Florence. This would be tragic considering the sculpture has always symbolized the city of Florence.

The Florentine Republic originally commissioned the sculpture to stand atop the roofline of the Florence Cathedral. (This is why the head and hands of the sculpture are unusually large; Michelangelo thought people would view it from far below.) By the time Michelangelo finished the stunning sculpture, officials decided to place the sculpture just outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, because they believed the Old Testament underdog David perfectly signified the city-state that succeeded in defending itself against more powerful rival city-states, such as Rome, toward which David glared.