e statue was completed, a committee of citizens and artists convened to decide where the statue should be placed. Some thought it should go near the steps or the church of San Piero Scheraggio, others said it should not be outside at all because of the softness of the marble. Because of that fact, some said it should be placed under the Loggia dei Lanzi, under the central arch, but it was finally decided that it would be placed in the Palazzo Vecchio (Hartt 104). Luca Landucci, a spice dealer, made these notes in his journal after the statue was moved from Michelangelo’s workshop to the piazza: "[The statue] made way very slowly, . . . suspended in the air with enormous beams and a complicated mechanism of ropes. It took four days to reach the piazza. . . . More than forty men were employed to make it go." One night during the move, vandals—thought by historians to have been Medici sympathizers—pelted it with stones; a guard was set to watch until the installation was complete.”On September 8, the David was officially unveiled. Florence was very impressed. Michelangelo, who was already famous, became a sculptor who was incontestably the greatest in all of Italy (Coughlan 93).Bernini also became famous in his own time for his rendition of David. He took a completely different view of the subject, as you will soon see.BerniniThe statue of David was Bernini’s first major work, which he completed at the age of only twenty-one over a period of only seven months. Bernini gave David his own face, by sculpturing it while his friend, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, was holding a mirror in front of him. He depicted David as an artist (of war), using his hands as the means of his art. Both Bernini and David (at the time of his fight with Goliath) are young, at the start of their careers, facing a giant challenge (Wallace 27). The statue of David depicts him in a crucial moment in his life. The young man stands in fron...
