Michelangelo Marble Carvings

David is a 5 17 metre 17 0 ft marble statue of the biblical figure david a favoured subject in the art of florence.

Michelangelo marble carvings. 69 9 july 2008 by adam williams fine art new york as workshop of domenico ghirlandaio subsequently purchased by the kimbell art museum fort worth tx and attributed to michelangelo. A tooth chisel is basically a comb and you use it to chisel to model form while at the same time remove stone fairly quickly. The artist s obsessive process of selecting marble for his projects drove him year after year to the town of cararra where quarries that date back to roman times are legendary for their pure white marble block. Something to remember about marble carving it s very tactile the way the stone bursts from a point chisel or the way your tooth chisel just kind of swims through the stone.

David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of florence cathedral. Pieta was completed in 1499 and was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. Between 1501 and 1504 michelangelo took over a commission for a statue of david which two prior sculptors had previously attempted and abandoned and turned the 17 foot piece of marble into a. Michelangelo s prodigious talent was evidenced at a young age so it is no surprise that during his twenties he produced two of the sculptures for which he is most famous.

1487 1488 oil and tempera on panel 47 cm 35 cm 18 1 2 in 13 3 4 in kimbell art museum purchased from sotheby s auction catalogue of old masters sale lot no.