<p style="text-align: center"><strong><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.southallegheny.org/webpages/jbradley/photos/1102243/DavidDonatello.jpg" alt="" width="216" height="404" /></strong><a href="http://www.southallegheny.org/webpages/jbradley/photos/1102243/DavidDonatello.jpg">http://www.southallegheny.org/webpages/jbradley/photos/1102243/DavidDonatello.jpg</a></p>
Sensuous and beautiful, Donatello’s Bronze David had contributed to the rebirth of Humanism during the Renaissance.  Although seemingly overshadowed by Michelangelo’s David, Donatello had undoubtedly prepared the way.  There have been many questions regarding the historical and psychological background for this innovative piece of art in history including David’s beginnings and the message Donatello portrayed in the unique contrapposto.   Donato di Niccolo Bardi, or Donatello, was a brilliant artist whose artistic values were respected and most greatly interpreted by his David, as it was the first, free-standing nude statue of the Renaissance.  Drawing attention to multiple aspects of Humanism into his time and further influencing other great artists, Donatello’s bronze David should be considered favorable to historical art and thus saved for future generations to view and acknowledge.<!--more-->

Donatello had bronze casted and magnificently sculpted with immense detail the well known biblical figure of David.  Many are familiar with the story of David and Goliath from the Old Testament.  As the subject of the sculpture, the story ended with a victorious David as the hero of Israel, where we will find later also symbolizes the modern belief of the Florentine people.  David is acclaimed for his bravery and his faith in God to defeat the giant.  Just moments before killing Goliath with a stone from his sling, David said to him, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD Almighty—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (Harris).  David is sculpted after the death of the monster as he stands confident and relaxed—a style Donatello reintroduced from the Greeks.  Encyclopedia Britannica denotes that this contrapposto, as viewed by the bronze David, provides the viewer a calm resonance of the sculpture as the body rests on one leg, suggesting life.  David has implied both life and death, yet continues to further allude to something beyond that of biblical symbolism.  Donatello’s David nudity and feminine stance implies a certain question of sexuality and is thus questioned to this day.

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<p style="text-align: center">Works Cited</p>
Bloem, Roderick.  “Michelangelo’s David.”  University of Colorado, Boulder.  Web.  08 April 2011.  &lt;http://vlsi.colorado.edu/~rbloem/david.html&gt;.

I used this to describe Michelangelo’s David to help me compare.

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"Donatello." <em>Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online</em>. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2011.  &lt;http://www.britannica.com.lsproxy.austincc.edu&gt;.

I used this reference to describe the sculpture and introduce Donatello.

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Fiero, Gloria. “The Gods of Mesopotamia.” The Humanistic Tradition, book 1.  6th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2011.  Print.

I used this book to describe the historical context of the Early Renaissance.

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Finnan, Vincent.  “The Three Davids: Donatello, Verocchio, and Michelangelo.”  <em>Italian Renaissance Art.Com. </em>Italian Renaissance Art.com 2008-2010.  Web.  08 Apr. 2011.  &lt;http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Three-Davids.html&gt;.

I used this to compare Michelangelo and Donatello’s Davids.

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Harris, Beth and Stephen Zucker.  “Donatello’s David.”  <em>SmARThistory. </em>Web.  08 Apr. 2011.  &lt;www.smarthistory.org/Donatello.html&gt;.

I used this to talk about the views of then and now along with the biblical reference.

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“Statue of David by Michelangelo.”  <em>Statue.com. </em> 2011.  Web.  08 Apr. 2011.

&lt;http://www.statue.com/statue-of-david.html&gt;.

I also used this to compare Michelangelo’s David to Donatello’s.

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"The Early Renaissance in Italy." <em>Arts and Humanities Through the Eras</em>. Ed. Edward I. Bleiberg, et al. Vol. 4: Renaissance Europe 1300-1600. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 363-376. <em>Gale Virtual Reference Library</em>. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

&lt;<span style="text-decoration: underline">http://go.galegroup.com.lsproxy.austincc.edu</span>&gt;.

I used this reference to help me describe the historical context of the time period.

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