Abstract/Description/Artist Statement
Following the completion of Michelangelo’s David 1504, Gonfalonier Piero Soderini presented the emerging Florentine artist with a proposal for a second statue on behalf of Florence’s government: a statue of Hercules to stand alongside the David at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo readily accepted, however the commission never came to be; what remains of Michelangelo’s vision for the Herculean pendant now resides in the Casa Buonarroti Museum of Florence: a rough terracotta model of Hercules and Cacus. Upon review of the scholarship documenting Michelangelo’s unrealized Hercules as well as his David, an intriguing pattern can be observed concerning the newly appointed Gonfalonier di Giustizia, Piero Soderini. Through analysis of Soderini’s actions and political motivations, a review of the historical precedence of David and Hercules being allied symbols of Florence, as well as an artistic analysis of both Michelangelo’s David and Two Wrestlers in regard to their potential of being a pair, this paper argues that from the start, Soderini approved the commission of the David with the intent that it would be joined by Hercules at the Palazzo Vecchio.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Anne Muraoka
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Email
amuraoka@odu.edu
Faculty Advisor/Mentor Department
Art History
College/School Affiliation
College of Arts & Letters
Student Level Group
Undergraduate
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Included in
Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons, Renaissance Studies Commons
Two Wrestlers: An Unrealized Herculean Pendant to Michelangelo’s David
Following the completion of Michelangelo’s David 1504, Gonfalonier Piero Soderini presented the emerging Florentine artist with a proposal for a second statue on behalf of Florence’s government: a statue of Hercules to stand alongside the David at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo readily accepted, however the commission never came to be; what remains of Michelangelo’s vision for the Herculean pendant now resides in the Casa Buonarroti Museum of Florence: a rough terracotta model of Hercules and Cacus. Upon review of the scholarship documenting Michelangelo’s unrealized Hercules as well as his David, an intriguing pattern can be observed concerning the newly appointed Gonfalonier di Giustizia, Piero Soderini. Through analysis of Soderini’s actions and political motivations, a review of the historical precedence of David and Hercules being allied symbols of Florence, as well as an artistic analysis of both Michelangelo’s David and Two Wrestlers in regard to their potential of being a pair, this paper argues that from the start, Soderini approved the commission of the David with the intent that it would be joined by Hercules at the Palazzo Vecchio.