Florence has a heart of art and culture, a living embodiment of the contributions of Italian greats such as Brunelleschi, Giotto, da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Looking down onto the city from the surrounding hills, the Duomo sticks out as a reminder that this is, in fact, the Florence of old. Michelangelo’s David is breathtaking, arguably one of the best examples of artistic insight and vision ever.
I walked circles around the much-larger-than-expect statue, admiring cold rock that had been contoured and smoothened to appear as flesh. A less-crowded side room was filled with many of master’s unfinished pieces (pictures above), and I was left even more in awe of how David was accomplished. How did Michelangelo take a block of white granite from the mines of Tuscany, and remove everything else revealing the lifelike towering figure?
Sculpture to me is one of the truest forms of art because it is a symbol of the value of taking away as opposed to adding.
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