Florence: Donatello's David
posted by Jamila
This man has occupied the space between my ears for about a month now, and he has taught me more about history, humanity, art, and life in general than some of my professors this semester.
The attraction to this David is what interests me most. His sheer beauty. He represents every aspect of the Renaissance male sphere except in bodily form. In that respect he takes on the form of an adolescent boy, perhaps no older than 16 years of age. And further, David possesses a mystique about himself that I would not shy from labeling feminine. Indeed, adolescent boys during the Renaissance were allotted to the status group of women, more or less.
No one is really in touch with the female voice of David's time. Perhaps women strolling through the Medici court secretly swooned along with their husbands over the bronze hero. And this is perhaps what disappoints most about this topic: how easily we may enter into the minds of men, who traced the footprints of history, but somehow the minds of women are shut off to us in so many instances.
And there is the source of David's mystique. He is, after all, the first transgender bronze nude.
Read the article: "Donatello's David: A Symbol of Florentine Male Culture" >>
This man has occupied the space between my ears for about a month now, and he has taught me more about history, humanity, art, and life in general than some of my professors this semester.
The attraction to this David is what interests me most. His sheer beauty. He represents every aspect of the Renaissance male sphere except in bodily form. In that respect he takes on the form of an adolescent boy, perhaps no older than 16 years of age. And further, David possesses a mystique about himself that I would not shy from labeling feminine. Indeed, adolescent boys during the Renaissance were allotted to the status group of women, more or less.
No one is really in touch with the female voice of David's time. Perhaps women strolling through the Medici court secretly swooned along with their husbands over the bronze hero. And this is perhaps what disappoints most about this topic: how easily we may enter into the minds of men, who traced the footprints of history, but somehow the minds of women are shut off to us in so many instances.
And there is the source of David's mystique. He is, after all, the first transgender bronze nude.
Read the article: "Donatello's David: A Symbol of Florentine Male Culture" >>
Labels: art, contributors, EUROPE, FLORENCE, history, ITALY, reads
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