Within the course of two hundred years, there was four completely different statues of David created in Italy; all which are masterpieces. Donatello's came first, then Verrocchio's, followed by Michelangelo's, and finally that of Bernini. The four sculptors had completely different objectives to their own statues.

Donatello was the son of Niccolò di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool carder. It is not known how he began his career, but it seems likely that he learned stone carving from one of the sculptors working for the cathedral of Florence about 1400. Some time between 1404 and 1407 he became a member of the workshop of Lorenzo Ghiberti, a sculptor in bronze who in 1402 had won the competition for the doors of the Florentine baptistery. Donatello's earliest work of which there is certain knowledge, a marble statue of David, shows an artistic debt to Ghiberti, who was then the leading Florentine exponen

In this work, Michelangelo summarizes the sculptural innovations of his 15th-century predecessors such as Donatello, while conducting in the new monumentality of the High Renaissance style of the 16th century. The high point of Michelangelo's early style is the gigantic marble David, which he produced between 1501 and 1504, after returning to Florence. The Old Testament hero is depicted by Michelangelo as a lithe nude youth, muscular, and very alert, which is looking off into the distance as if sizing up the enemy Goliath, whom he has not yet encountered. The fiery intensity of David's facial expression is termed terribilità, a feature characteristic of many of Michelangelo's figures and of his own personality. David, Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, became the symbol of Florence and originally was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine town hall. With this statue Michelangelo proved to his contemporaries that he not only surpassed all modern artists, but also the Greeks and Romans, by infusing formal beauty with powerful expressiveness and meaning.

Looking within all the artists as well as their views on their own sculpture, we can see that each stature was taken by the same biblical story and hero David, as well as each statue being sculpted for a certain person or reason. Each artist has their own and special way of expressing their David’s. For example Michelangelo’s David is nude but does not seem to be a hero looking sculpture. Unlike the statues of Donatello, Verrochio, and Benini which all make their statues look and feel as they are heroes, by adding clothing, or weapons to their David’s.

Bernini appears to have been specifically interested in a believable depiction of the slaying of Goliath by the youthful David. Of the four statues, certainly Bernini's is the most dramatic, the most realistic portrayal of the biblical hero. That was the objective, which Bernini wished to achieve. It was really not the objective of the other three sculptors. Bernini conceived and carved his statue of David in seven mo

Some topics in this essay:
Robert Bellarmine, Donatello's David, Florence Testament, Domenico Michelangelo, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Baldovinetti Verrocchio, International Gothic, Ghirlandaio Michelangelo, Palazzo Vecchio, Bardi Florentine, 16th century, palazzo vecchio, florentine sculptor, david statue, medici family, statue david, statues donatello, statues david, san domenico, strongly influenced,