Is Michelangelo S Statue Made Of Carrera Marble

David is a masterpiece of renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the italian artist michelangelo.

Is michelangelo s statue made of carrera marble.

The more the marble wastes the more the statue grows wrote michelangelo buonarroti. In piazza del duomo cathedral square on the façade of the house where he lived during one of his. The absence of david s traditional accoutrements a sword and the severed head of. It was carved from a single piece of carrara marble.

We are proud to offer you the opportunity to create custom made sculptures of your own design or reproductions of famous ori ginals such as michelangelo s pieta in white carrara marble. The great michelangelo buonarroti caprese 1475 rome 1564 though he did not leave any of his works of art in carrara always had a close relationship with the town staying there many times to visit the quarries and choose personally the marbles which gave life to his masterpieces. In 1515 michelangelo had in fact taken up residence in carrara and even founded a company with leonardo cagione a quarryman to excavate and earn on supplies of marble to the commissioners the company was fortunate until the quarrelsome minds reached irreparable disagreements regarding delivery times. Carrara marble has been used since the time of ancient rome and it was called the luni marble.

Possibly the most precious medium for unique masterpieces. Michelangelo s famous statue of david was sculpted from carrara marble. Marble has been quarried in carrara located on the northernmost tip of tuscany for nearly 2 000 years. David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of florence cathedral.

Every piece of carrara marble was special and specific to each project. The majestic pietà measuring 5 9 x 6 5 was carved out of a single piece of white and blue marble from the famous caves of. The family created the office of marble in 1564 to regulate the marble mining industry. In the 17th and 18th centuries the marble quarries were monitored by the cybo and malaspina families who ruled over massa and carrara.

This may be because the marble slab was narrow having been cut with the thinner statues of donatello and agostino s era in mind. The renaissance master was intimately familiar with the marble quarries near carrara in tuscany where he traveled to select raw materials for his famous pietà and other sculptures. It has been the marble of choice since ancient times not only for sculptors but also for builders. Although noted for its whiteness carrara marble may contain shades of blue gray or gray.

The city of massa in particular saw much of its plan. Until the late 19th century the process of extracting marble from the mountains had remained little changed since michelangelo s time. The figure although muscular is slimmer than the bodybuilder like physiques that are typical of michelangelo s other works. Carrara marble colors and veining.