David

Finally yesterday, for the first time, I went to see David in his home in the Accademia, the museum that was set up in the 1800s to allow the students of Florence's fine art school to learn from the former Florentine masters.
The iconographic image is everywhere here in the city, from the copy of David in Piazza Della Signoria, to aprons, postcards, books and posters, there is no escaping him.
But still seeing the statue for real for the first time is something that stops you in your tracks. As you round the corner in the museum, he is waiting at the end of the hall, bathed in natural light from the domed glass ceiling over his head.
The marble shines bright white and, even from a distance, you can see the veins on his arms standing out, and the sinews of the muscles on his legs.
When you get up closer you realise the real mastery of Michaelangelo even more. Built from a single block of marble, meaning, for the leg area for example, he had to carve the tip of the kneecap first and work inwards, the details are awe-inspiring. For the record he did not make a mistake with the perspective of the hands and the feet! The statue was created to be placed 40 metres above the ground, on the Duomo, so Michaelangelo adjusted the dimensions accordingly. But even though no-one would see it, he still carved the details to perfection, the ears are especially amazing.
On the way out of the museum there are other Michaelangelo carvings, not complete, but somehow engaging all the same as the blocks of marble, still in their raw forms, have a torso or a knee emerging from them. Incredible.