The Art of Michelangelo

Christian Artist: Michelangelo
Michelangelo’s David (1501-1504) is an example of a work of sculpture by an artist who confessed Christianity and in fact took great pleasure in reading Scripture as well as other religious writings, such as those of Savonarola, a famous reformer in Italy (Vasari, 1998). Michelangelo sculpted, painted and designed architectural works during the Renaissance in Europe. He was commissioned by the Pope to paint the Sistine Chapel Ceiling as well as the sanctuary wall of the chapel where The Last Judgment can be seen. Michelangelo also sculpted the Pieta—but in this paper, his David will be discussed. By analyzing Michelangelo’s David, which is considered one of the artist’s greatest masterpieces (Johnson, 2003), this paper will show how it reflects a Christian worldview considering the era in which it was created.
While Luther did not nail his 95 Theses to the church doors until 1517, some dozen years after Michelangelo finished David, reform had been a major topic in the Church and especially in Italy, where the Dominican Savonarola had conducted a “bonfire of the vanities” in which many people had tossed “vain” items into a fire in 1497 to help purify themselves from an encroaching worldliness that was distracting from them from the things of God. Michelangelo, an admirer of Savonarola, according to Vasari (1998), understood the urgency of the need for reform—and that is why his David is of such interest and greatness.
David was an Old Testament character, who rose up from humble beginnings to become King of the Jews and a prefiguring of Christ. In his youth, he slew the giant Goliath with a sling and one rock. It is this event that is commemorated in Michelangelo’s David. David is depicted as poised, relaxed and confident. He has complete and utter faith in his mission to protect his people from the threat posed by Goliath.
David was commissioned by the Church to adorn the outside of the Florence cathedral (Italian Renaissance, 2015). Why would a church want David for its outside, a kind of greeter at the door? The reason is that David is viewed as the antecedent of Christ. Christ is descended from the House of David, historically speaking (Kaiser, 1995). The Christian worldview presented by this work, therefore, is that Christ—whose life and sacrifice are celebrated inside the church—has a historical connection to this world that can be traced all the way back to the biblical figure of David. The worldview presented through David is the idea that Christ is real, Christ is God, and that David is the prefiguring of Christ—the ideal man, whose ideal form and shape is depicted by Michelangelo: calm, secure, forward-looking, and at peace. David defended his people from the enemy, just as the Church sough to defend its flock from the enemy—the father of lies. At a time when so many enemies seemed to be lurking about within the Church, Michelangelo’s David expressed the reminder that no one should be afraid: Christ Himself promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. David’s poise and balance served as a reminder of how the Church should express itself—with the same sense of calm and inner peace, so long as it followed the heart of God.
The style of the work contributes to its message by being imbued with realism and humanism (Johnson, 2003). Michelangelo lived at a time when artists were trying to be more realistic in their approach to art: they wanted to accurately reflect the world in which they lived. Michelangelo took it a step further and tried to show mankind in its pristine or ideal condition—man as he existed before the Fall or as God intended him to be. That is why David is depicted so perfectly with such exquisite proportion and masculinity. Michelangelo was showing that he knew every muscle, every tendon, and every vein of the body (this was his focus on realism) and that he also knew that man in his current state suffered from the effects of Original Sin. To inspire man, Michelangelo wanted to show him the image of ideal man—and that is seen in David. David thus represents both ideal man and the Church; he has a triangular form, which is the symbol of the Triune God of Christianity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost), and he has broad, masculine shoulders, a perfect brow, defined muscles and magnanimous stature—i.e., the characteristics of the ideal man.
Michelangelo handles the unique challenges of the artistic form of sculpting like no other. The marble stone used to create David turns to butter under Michelangelo’s chisel. It is as though he has perfect command of both his tools and the rock itself. Sculpting is not an easy art to master—but Michelangelo mastered it at an early age (Vasari, 1998). For that reason, Michelangelo was able to construct that monumental David without relying on the traditional support structure. David is supported by his own two legs, the weight evenly distributed thanks to the triangular form of the statue’s structure. A small base at the rear of David’s right leg provides additional support for that side of the frame—but still it is a marvel of engineering that Michelangelo was able to carve the stone in such a way that it did not buckle under its own weight. Many sculptors struggled to complete large sculptures like this one because they could not accomplish the task of depicting a life-like free standing man without causing the rock to break. Michelangelo understood the physics of design and used mathematical logic and precision when judging how the weight of the sculpture would be distributed evenly so as to prevent collapse.
The execution of Michelangelo’s craft can only be explained as a gift from God. The talent he displayed was so rare, so unearthly, so innate, that it could not have come from any other source. Michelangelo, as Vasari notes, had this gift to create artistic works of great beauty from an early age—and his talent only increased over time as he dedicated his life to pursuing it. He achieved such wonders aside from David—the Pieta, the Sistine Chapel, the Dome of St. Peter’s, and so many others that he must be seen as a special artist who was given the ability to create art by God. Michelangelo’s faith was also very strong and he lived an ascetic life, almost like a monk, in order to stay close to the gift that God gave him.
The only aspect of the work that I question given my faith is the nudity of the statue. In Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, some of the nudity has been covered up by later artists because the Church was uncomfortable with it. As a Christian, it does seem like there should be more modesty in the depiction of the human form—but I understand what Michelangelo is doing. He is not displaying David’s nudity in a way to inflame the senses or to be pornographic. He is showing the ideal human—the picture of humanity before the Fall. It is a vision of what man should strive to be in God’s grace. At the same time, I understand that so much nudity could be quite uncomfortable for some viewers. Michelangelo was operating in the humanist tradition, however. He wanted to show man as he was, not hiding anything. There may be something not quite Christian about so much unabashed nudity—but I am not sure what to say about it beyond that. I think the statue is admirable. At the same time, I am not sure a church is a fitting place for it.

References
Italian Renaissance. (2015). David. Retrieved from
http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-david/
Johnson, P. (2003). Art: A New History. NY: Gallery.
Kaiser, W. (1995). The Messiah in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zandorvan.
Vasari, G. (1998). Lives of the Artists. Oxford University Press.