History Art / David

* OneWordTitle

* ProtagonistTitle

->''"The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine."''

* MaleFrontalNudity: The ''David'' depicts the Jewish king within an idealized, muscular body without any clothing, allowing his full figure to be on display, [----includinghispenis.----]

* ItsNotPornItsArt: On at least two different occasions, ''David'' was accused of being inappropriately ribald thanks to its stark depiction of male nudity. During the Victorian era, a replica of the statue was given hooks in order to attach a fig leaf whenever Queen Victoria and other important ladies visit, while in 2023, a middle school principal in Florida was [[https://www.npr.org/2023/03/27/1166079167/tallahassee-classical-michelangelo-david-principal-fired fired]] after a parent complained that an art teacher's use of the statue in a sixth grade constituted child endangerment.

* ItsNotPornItsArt: On at least two different occasions, ''David'' was accused of being inappropriately ribald thanks to its stark depiction of male nudity. During the Victorian era, a replica of the statue was given hooks in order to attach a fig leaf whenever Queen Victoria and other important ladies visit, while in 2023, a middle school principal in Florida was [[https://www.npr.org/2023/03/27/1166079167/tallahassee-classical-michelangelo-david-principal-fired fired]] after a parent complained that his use of the statue in a sixth grade art class constituted child endangerment.

* ItsNotPornItsArt: The cast of the ''David'' at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), has a detachable plaster fig leaf which is added when Queen Victoria and other important ladies visit. The fig leaf is then hung using two strategically placed hooks.

* MaleFrontalNudity: The ''David'' depicts the Jewish king within an idealized, muscular body without any clothing, allowing his full figure to be on display.

* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: Greco-Roman sculptures are white because the paint faded with time. The ''David'', however, was never meant to be colored. Its white appearance, instead, is there to further highlight David's holiness as one of God's chosen ones.

* SufferTheSlings: The world's most famous slinger is holding his sling casually over his shoulder.
* TropeMakers: Many scholars have attributed this statue as the thing that popularized the idea of stone statues being pristine and white due to a misconception on the statues that survived the Classical Era, the ancient Romans having originally painted some of their statues in bright colors before time faded them away.

* PrettyBoy: David is depicted with a youthful and handsome appearance.

* DavidVsGoliath: While Goliath is not portrayed to give a physical contrast, David's expression of sober determination as he gazes at his foe expresses the threat that Goliath poses.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: The beauty of Michelangelo's ''David'' is meant to reflect the subject's holiness.

* ''AngelicBeauty'': The sculpture's purpose is to represent the king's saintliness rather than his literal physical appearance. As such ''David'' is a flawless man deep in thought and full of life. The tell that the sculpture shows his spiritual status as a [[MessianicArchetype foreshadowing of Christ]] is that his penis is uncircumcised despite being a Jewish king.

!!The ''David'' appears in the following works:

* In ''Film/ChildrenOfMen'', the protagonist's cousin and a high-ranking government official runs a Ministry of Arts programme called "Ark of the Arts", which "rescues" works of art. The ''David'' is among said works, albeit with a broken leg that's been replaced by an ugly prosthetic.
* In ''Film/Sin2019'', Michelangelo stumbles upon his own work at the Piazza della Signoria when wandering in Florence at one point at the beginning.
* In ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E9ItchyAndScratchyAndMarge Itchy & Scratcy & Marge]]'', the ''David'' is brought to Springfield and the local anti-indecency group wants to protest it because it depicts frontal male nudity.
* ''Film/AlienCovenant''. A sign of Peter Weyland's immense wealth is that he has ''David'' as a private ornament in his house. His eighth generation android decides to [[LineOfSightName name himself after it.]]
* The ''David'' statue is an available decoration in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'', and is one of the statues that can be donated to the Museum. [[ItsNotPornItsArt Notably, it is uncensored]]. Even its fake version, which shows David holding books in his right arm, is uncensored.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Squidward goes on a rampage, destroying his art studio. It turns out that in this rampage he created a replica of Michelangelo's David, the same statue Spongebob had created earlier in the episode.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPunchPatrol'' has a ''naked'' enemy who [[FullFrontalAssault fights you nude]], introduced [[NobodyHereButUsStatues disguised as a David replica]] before leaping off his pedestal to attack.

The ''David'' is a stone sculpture by Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti, finished in 1504. It memorializes the moment from [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1st Samuel]] where the shepherd David accepts his duty to battle the Philistine warrior Goliath for the sake of Israel, the chosen nation of {{God}}.

* DuelingWorks: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Donatello) Donatello also made two statues called]] ''David:'' a marble one which depicts him clothed and a nude (other than [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn a hat]] and boots) made of bronze. Michelangelo's is much more famous in most of the world, but Donatello's nude is extremely well-known in Italy; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello their version of the Oscars is even based on it]].

-->--'''David''', 1 Samuel 17:37

* NamesTheSame: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Donatello) Donatello also made two statues called]] ''David:'' a marble one which depicts him clothed and a nude (other than [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn a hat]] and boots) made of bronze. Michelangelo's is much more famous in most of the world, but Donatello's nude is extremely well-known in Italy; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello their version of the Oscars is even based on it]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Michelangelo is normally strict about adhering to human anatomy, but he deliberately made the hands and head of the ''David'' overly large, most likely so that people viewing it from far away in a chapel could distinguish these important elements easily. It was originally placemd on a rooftop.

There are several depictions of David in Renaissance art, and multiple well-known sculptures, including one made by Donatello nearly 100 years before, but Michelangelo's version remains famous enough that it is sometimes referred to as ''the'' David.

* CheatedAngle: As seen elsewhere on this page, Michelangelo, as knowledgeable in anatomy as he was, cheated the proportions here and there so that David would look good when viewed from its original location.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Michelangelo is normally strict about adhering to human anatomy, but he deliberately made the hands and head of the ''David'' overly large, most likely so that people viewing it from far away in a chapel could distinguish these important elements easily. This break from reality is also a result of the original placement of the statue on a rooftop. Looking at it at that height and at that angle, the excess height, head size, and hand size are actually correct.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: The beauty of Michelangelo's ''David'' is meant to reflect Dave's holiness, which is why he has features that would not be expected of a Iron Age Jewish boy, like a uncircumcised penis or a seventeen foot figure. Michelangelo considered those traits to be signs of ideal beauty and perfection, so when depicting an ancestor of [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Christ]], he took artistic liberties to convey David's virtues visually.

* CowardlyLion: Although it's not immediately obvious when viewed from the ground, when seen from head on the look of fear and trepidation on David's face is obvious, as it would be on any sane person about to fight a nine foot mutant. And yet he stands tall with his sling at the ready, a testament to the fact that courage is the mastery of fear rather than its absence.
* DavidVsGoliath: Uniquely for a depiction of the famously disadvantaged David, AvertedTrope; we get no sculpture of Goliath for reference, but David is certainly larger here than any man could expect to be. There is no attempt here to portray David as an underdog or less physically endowed.

* HeroicBuild: Rather than depicting David as small like many other artists would, David is here seen as a Hellenistic ideal of manhood, with abundant muscles, pulsating veins, and a figure seventeen feet high.

* MaleFrontalNudity: The ''David'' depicts the Jewish king within an idealized, muscular body without any clothing, allowing his full figure to be on display[----, includinghispenis.----]

* NamesTheSame: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Donatello) Donatello also made two statues called]] ''David:'' a marble one which depicts him clothed and a nude[[note]](well, [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn technically he's wearing a hat and boots]])[[/note]] made of bronze. Michelangelo's is much more famous in most of the world, but Donatello's nude is extremely well-known in Italy; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello their version of the Oscars is even based on it]].
* ThePerfectionist:
** ''David'' has long been praised as absolute perfection of human anatomy (not counting the deliberate alterations above). Michelangelo worked for two years straight on ''David'', sleeping rarely and eating sparsely. There are hundreds of tiny details that you can see, from the raised veins on his hand from the grip on the stone to the small genitals, not only standard for the time and area, but also an example of pre-battle shrinkage.
** The only notable anatomy flaw is that of a missing muscle in the back. But it was necessary. A flaw in the block of marble prevented Michelangelo from carving it, as mentioned in a letter he released at the time of finishing. It's the same flaw (among others) that had the block of marble sitting in a plaza for 40 years before Michelangelo took a chance.

* SufferTheSlings: David is holding his sling casually over his shoulder, as his face records his confidence in doing battle with Goliath.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: As many observers have pointed out, the sculpture depicts David as being uncircumcised which is a departure from Jewish custom. It is however in line with the artistic sensibilities of the Renaissance.

* ThePerfectionist: ''David'' has long been praised as absolute perfection of human anatomy (not counting the deliberate alterations above). Michelangelo worked for two years straight on ''David'', sleeping rarely and eating sparsely. There are hundreds of tiny details that you can see, from the raised veins on his hand from the grip on the stone to the small genitals, not only standard for the time and area, but also an example of pre-battle shrinkage.