Post by @art_dailydose

Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini were born 123 years apart and belonged to two different artistic eras. Yet both were already making marble appear almost alive while still in their twenties. Michelangelo carved David between 1501 and 1504 from an enormous block of marble that had previously been worked and abandoned by other sculptors. Standing 5.17 metres tall and weighing approximately 5,560 kilograms, the figure holds all its tension in the moment before action. The body is controlled, balanced and watchful. Bernini’s David, created in 1623–1624, does almost the opposite. He twists through the act of launching the stone, his face tightened with concentration. Remarkably, Bernini completed the sculpture in only seven months. The close-ups reveal their different approaches. Michelangelo creates life through anatomy, proportion and restraint. Bernini makes marble behave like skin, fabric and hair. In The Abduction of Proserpina, fingers appear to press into soft flesh. In Apollo and Daphne, hair and hands transform into delicate laurel leaves. Another remarkable detail is Michelangelo’s Madonna of Bruges, one of the few works by the artist to leave Italy during his lifetime. They were young, but the marble already looked impossible. Which detail surprised you most? #art #sculpture #History #michelangelo #bernini