September 13, 1501: Michelangelo begins work on David.
Michelangelo was commissioned in August of 1501 by the Operai of the Florence Cathedral to complete his great masterpiece. Several artists, including Agostino de Duccio and Antonio Rossellini, had worked on the large marble block (for entirely different projects, in fact) before it came into Michelanelo’s possession. It took him a little over two years to complete his sculpture, whereupon there was some debate as to where it should be placed. A small portion of the Florentine believed that David should be placed outside the cathedral - either on it or near it, but it was finally settled that the sculpture would be placed near the entrance of the town hall of Florence, the Palazzo Vecchio; it stayed there until 1873, when it was moved to the Academia Gallery, its current home.
David was not an uncommon subject of Italian Renaissance sculptors - Donatello created two, one in the early 1400s, and another in the 1440s, and Verrochio sculpted his own in the 1470s. Neither, however, ever achieved the level of recognition Michelangelo’s version now enjoys. Michelangelo’s version, perhaps departing from the mainstream portrayal, depicts David as an apprehensive youth, probably moments before his confrontation with Goliath; Michelangelo’s David also impresses on account of its sheer size alone - Donatello’s sculpture was life-size, but Michelangelo’s measured over five meters tall (around 17 feet) and weighed six tons.