The main draw of the Accademia is of course Michelangelo’s David, one of the greatest works in 35 centuries of Western art. I remember my first reactions to other treasures of Western Civilization such as reading Hamlet for the first time in high school or glimpsing the Mona Lisa in Paris in my twenties. These works have been lauded, represented, and re-mixed so often in traditional and popular culture so much that no one raised with modern media in the West truly experiences them for the first time. And truthfully, some of these works are disappointing in person. The weight these expectations can be insurmountable.
David is able to bear these expectations and then some. Unlike the Mona Lisa or other famous portraits, David is just big. So part of the way David lives up to massive expectations is his scale. According to Wikipedia, he is over 14 feet tall by himself; raised on his pedestal, David soars 17 feet above the ground.
His size is augmented by the site. The space in the Accademia was especially designed to showcase David. He stands below an impressive dome at the terminus of a long impressive hallway. The hallway is lined with four large rough-hewn blocks of marble—sculptures called the Unfinished Slaves that Michelangelo began but never completed. At the end of the Hall of Unfinished Slaves, David stands on his imposing pedestal. The light filtering from the dome seems to light him in diffuse spotlight.
One of the pleasures of seeing works of art in person is the ability to see details, texture, scale in a way that is impossible by media representations (and i predict it will be many years before VR will truly do the job). Viewing sculpture in person is especially important because one can truly understand how space and form is shaped in 3D that can be approximated but never captured with current media. I’ve seen 2D images of David so many times that I forgot that he has sides and a rear. The site designers at the Accademia were brilliant in designing a generous space in front of, around, and behind David. They have even thoughtfully included a large semicircular bench that both gives David a wide berth and allows those who want to contemplate him for a long time a space to plant themselves. I probably sat on that bench for at least 45 minutes taking notes and simply absorbing.
I may have more to say in the future, but for now, I’ll just say that David’s perfection of execution, well-considered scale, careful preservation and restoration, and monumental staging fully met sky-high expectations.