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The
high point of Michelangelo's early style is
the gigantic (4.34 m/14.24 ft) marble David,
which he produced between 1501 and 1504, after
returning to Florence. The Old Testament hero
is depicted by Michelangelo as a lithe nude
youth, muscular and alert, looking off into
the distance as if sizing up the enemy Goliath,
whom he has not yet encountered. The fiery intensity
of David's facial expression is termed terribilitą,
a feature characteristic of many of Michelangelo's
figures and of his own personality.
David, Michelangelo's most famous sculpture,
became the symbol of Florence and originally
was placed in the Piazza della Signoria in front
of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine town
hall. With this statue Michelangelo proved to
his contemporaries that he not only surpassed
all modern artists, but also the Greeks and
Romans, by infusing formal beauty with powerful
expressiveness and meaning.
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