The moment you see David in Florence, you can feel that art can indeed carry and transcend the era. This statue is regarded as one of the most admirable male body statues in the history of Western art.

The original stone for the David statue was given to a sculptor as early as the 1460s. However, due to the stone being hard and thin (about 1.2 meters wide, leaving very little room for creativity), the sculptor gave up. Later, it passed into the hands of another sculptor, but still nothing came of it. Finally, this marble finally waited for Michelangelo. In Michelangelo’s view, every stone has a soul, and the sculptor merely removes the excess parts of the stone to “bring out” the real image.

The Bible says that David was a young shepherd boy in Israel. When the Philistines invaded Israel, David went to the front line to deliver food to his brothers. The enemy giant Goliath was extremely fierce. When the Israelites were unable to resist, the young David killed Goliath with a slingshot and saved the entire nation. David’s brave fight against the enemy was loved by the people, and he was crowned king of Israel.

When Michelangelo created this statue, he was not yet 30 years old, but his artistic style had already tended towards maturity. Most previous artists depicted David after he cut off the giant head of his enemy and stepped on Goliath’s head. Michelangelo chose the tense moment when David was about to sling a stone. David stood there full of confidence, his bright eyes staring into the distance, ready to engage in a new battle at any time.

In 1504, when the statue of David was completed, Michelangelo was only 29 years old. As the statue was too huge, it took 40 strong workers four days to move it to the square in front of the Florence Town Hall. On the day of the installation ceremony, the whole city was in an uproar. People rushed to the square one after another to get a first look. They pasted many notes on the statue, which read: “You have brought us self – esteem!”, “As Florentines, we are proud.”, “Human beings are the most powerful!”… From then on, Michelangelo became famous far and wide.

Take a close look and you'll find that David has firm muscles and prominent veins on the back of his hands. Before Michelangelo carved David, he didn't hesitate to dissect corpses. Only by fully understanding the human bones and muscles could he possibly sculpt a well - proportioned and perfect human body.

Some artworks need no words. As long as you stand in front of them, you can feel a kind of beauty that transcends time, race, and language. It's as if you're right there in the scene, leaving you at a loss for words.

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