This cathedral itself might be better compared to Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel, as it too has a multitude of figures looking down upon the visitor, as Chartres does. But if we are comparing the cathedral to the "David," one could say that they are similar in proportion. Chartres is broad-based and of human proportions. The round rose window is its head, and the shoulders are the square behind it, holding up both arms, pointing to the sky. It appears to have its feet spread, and the flying buttresses on either side appear like a skirt or wings under which a chick might be gathered.
As to structure, the church is made in many parts, "the vaulting was quadripartite, which eliminated the need for alternating supports,"(Frazier 440) whereas the "David" is made on one block of stone. As to materials, the cathedral is made of masonry stone, in blocks and long rectangles, with a brick-like look on the flat facades, whereas the "David" is smooth, curvaceous and made of pure white marble, instead of gray rock.
As to function, they provoke the same sentiment: awe. The "David" looks down briefly upon the viewer and one's eyes wander to his hands or arm or slingshot and one marvels at the holiness of God. The same may be said of the cathedral. When one stands in the entrance and views the enormity of the vault, the lights and color of the stained glass windows, and how constructed (Spiro 335), one wants to remain in the atmosphere, All the parts work together to bring about a sensation of holiness and awe. The central nave is in the shape of a cross, with the top of the cross at the altar and...
The cathedral was assembled from millions of stones, which were then laid, or installed on the site where it was needed. The "David" material (a large piece of marble and a slingshot in his hand,) is simply a single piece of marble.
The purpose of the "David" sculpture is to remind one of the power of a small rock (the rock that slew the giant) and the majesty of God's handiwork when He created such a beautiful man. The purpose of the cathedral is to remind viewers of much the same: of the power of stone, but this time tons and tons of stone rising high over one's head, and of the beauty of God's handiwork. It took only a short period of time to create the "David," but it took 70 years to build the cathedral and it is hard to tell which is most worthy of awe.
As designs, one from the Renaissance and one from the 12th Century, these two structures share only one characteristic: that they are of human proportions. The David must be, because he is a realistic man, but the cathedral, on a monumental scale, is also proportioned by the human body, with a foundation that reminds one of someone firmly planted by the waters who shall not be moved (Skokoff 6).
Works Cited
Frazier, Nancy. The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History. New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc. 2000.
Kostof, Spiro. A History of Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Levoy, Mark. A 3D-computer model of the head of Michelangelo's David, 1999 Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory, http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/mich/head-of-david/.
