The statues of liberty (1st part)

Silk is obtained from the cocoons of the silkworm larvae also called "blackberry worm" (Bombyx mori). The use of silk as a textile fiber originated in China, probably in the fourth millennium before the common era. Over time it became a coveted fiber for its texture and luster and became an important element of trade in the Chinese Empire and its area of ​​influence.

Later the silk market spread to India, the Middle East and Europe. It was already used in Egypt in the 11th century B.C. as evidenced by the silk fibers found in Egyptian tombs of that time.

The value of silk in the West was protected by the deliberate policies of China's successive imperial governments that kept cultivation techniques (sericulture) secret.

Due to this value and the growing demand, this commercial activity was intensified in such a way that the main trade routes between Europe and Asia became known as the Silk Routes.

For a long time silk was one of the main components of the fabrics produced in the European textile industries, particularly in the period between the 11th and 15th centuries AD. The main silk importing shopping malls in Europe were the Italian cities, in particular Venice, Florence and Genoa. Of these, Florence was probably the one that most strongly developed its industrial potential, combining silks from the East with special quality wool fibers produced in the British Isles.

That economic power of Florence was expressed in the expansion of its financial network. The family of the Florence Medici, bankers of the Papacy, extended their bank branches to several European countries, including Spain and Portugal, and actively participated in the financing of the first expeditions to the New World.

At the same time, this prosperity was also manifested in his artistic development. At the end of the XV century and beginning of the XVI century, Florence became the main battering ram of the process of cultural renewal, which was called the European Renaissance. Around the textile production two powerful industrial corporations were established: the Arte della Seta and the Arte della Lana. Both were main protagonists in the history of the Florentine republic.

The two corporations occupied about a third of the city's workforce and were largely the economic base of prosperity that enabled the city of Florence's intellectual, artistic, and building boom.

At the beginning of the 15th century, based on its economic boom, the Arte della Lana corporation in Florence decided to erect statues of Old Testament characters to be placed in the external buttress of the apse of the Cathedral of Santa María del Fiore.

In order to carry out this plan, in 1408, the works office of the Florence Cathedral (Opera del Duomo) financially supported by Arte Della Lana hired two sculptors to make statues of Biblical characters. Donatello was commissioned with a statue of King David and Nanni di Banco with an image of the prophet Isaiah. The commissions were carried out by both artists, although in the end the statues were never placed in the cathedral as planned.

A few years later, Donatello's David was sent to the Palazzo della Signoria, inside which he remained for a long time. There was added a Latin legend that said: "To those who fought valiantly for the homeland, the gods offered help even to the most terrible enemies."

Half a century later and trying to fulfill the original plan, the sculptor Agostino di Duccio was commissioned to build another statue of King David, giving him a marble block owned by the corporation that had been reserved for this purpose. From 1464 the artist tried to shape the stone, but his results were unsatisfactory and the work was left unfinished, leaving the block practically useless.

The David by Michelangelo Buonarroti

At the beginning of the 15th century and with a long delay, it was decided to commission the work to the young Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti (in Spanish known as Michelangelo) who got down to work in 1501.

Miguel Angel worked hard in his workshop and finished the sculpture almost three years later. His dedication to the work was very great and the result was impeccable.

The statue of more than 5 meters high that was made up of a nude version of a youthful and athletic man was completed in May 1504. At that time it was presented to the Gonfaloniero of Florence, Piero Soderini, who suggested that a defect be corrected. appreciated on the nose. Miguel Angel apparently agreed to make the correction, went up the stairs to the face of the statue, and there he took marble dust that he carried in a small bag and threw it while striking the statue with his chisel.

It's OK now? Asked the artist.

Now, yes, replied the Gonfaloniero.

And so the work was ready to be transferred to the square of the Palazzo de la Signoria.

It is a paradox that the biblical character David, famous for his uneven combat with a much bigger opponent, the Philistine Goliath, has been represented in a large statue, much larger than the 3 meters high that was attributed to the opponent of David.

In Florence, the giant was not Goliath but David, and that is how the statue was called by the population of the city.

The "Giant" walked the alleys of Florence for four days and finally reached his destination.

The trajectory was met with the opposition of some political opponents of the Florentine government, perhaps supporters of the Medicis, or of the religious leader Girolamo Savonarola himself scandalized by the nakedness of the effigy. During the transfer there were people who threw stones at the passage of the great statue.

The sculptural work, scandalous for the time, was located in the central square of the city and for greater challenge it was oriented with its face directed towards Rome.

We can assume that Michelangelo's David had a political rather than a religious content. The statue was an affirmation of the sovereign republic of the Florentines and of opposition to the oligarchic government of the Medicis and the Papacy of Rome. In a way, David can be considered the Renaissance version of the Statue of Liberty.

Reproduced from "Chronicles of human peripece", Danilo Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones