Donatello's bronze David and the Palazzo Medici courtyard

Author

Ames-Lewis, Francis

Document type

Article (journal)

Language

English

Source

Renaissance studies. 1989, Num. 3, Vol. 3, p. 235-251, 7 ill.; 1 diagram

ISSN

0269-1213

Abstract (en)

Asserts that Donatello's bronze David (Florence, Bargello) represents primarily David and not, as Parronchi and Pope-Hennessy have suggested, Mercury; but that the figure was intended to accommodate a range of secondary meanings as well. Studies the statue in relation to its original setting, the courtyard of Palazzo Medici (Florence) in the 3d quarter of the 15th c., reconstructing the pedestal on the basis of Vasari's description. Deduces that the David, with its iconography of wings, was intended to be seen in relation to the winged figure of Icarus in the Michelozzo school roundel of Daedalus and Icarus, and in this light proposes a Neo-Platonic interpretation based on Ficino's discussion of the wings of the soul in the Phaedrus.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1400-1800 -- Sculpture -- Italy
• Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi), ca.1386-1466
• Sculpture
• Italy
• 1400-1500
• David
• Museo nazionale del Bargello||Firenze (ITA)
• Pedestals
• Relief sculpture
• Bronze
• Palazzo Medici-Riccardi||Firenze (ITA)
• Courtyards
• Reconstruction [hypothetical]
• Daedalus and Icarus
• Neo-Platonism
• Ficino, Marsilio, 1433-1499
• Icarus
• Iconography
• Symbolism
• Soul
• Wings
• Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, 1396-1472
• Firenze (ITA)
• Architecture
• School
• Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574
• Writings

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1400-1800 -- Sculpture -- Italie
• Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi), v.1386-1466
• Sculpture
• Italie
• 1400-1500
• David
• Museo nazionale del Bargello||Firenze (ITA)
• Piédestal
• Relief
• Bronze [ma]
• Palazzo Medici-Riccardi||Firenze (ITA)
• Cour (architecture)
• Restitution intellectuelle
• Dédale et Icare
• Néoplatonisme
• Ficino, Marsilio, 1433-1499
• Icare
• Iconographie
• Symbolisme
• Ame
• Aile
• Michelozzo di Bartolommeo, 1396-1472
• Firenze (ITA)
• Architecture
• Ecole
• Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574
• Ecrits

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier19920101-00416009

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