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...

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…