Thursday, November 13, 2025

Thursday, November 13, 2025

A photograph of a great work of art is a mere memory. In no way can it have the same impact as an in-person encounter with the original artwork. I experienced this when we visited the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy. I had seen the reproductions of Michelangelo’s marble statue of David but was clueless about how I would react to that masterpiece.

A kilometer from the museum, in the Piazza della Signoria, stands a statue of David that I mistook to be the original. The resemblance was uncanny. I looked at it from all sides, appreciating the work, but I did not feel its power – the youthful beauty or the vigor written about in essays that I had read for its preparation. 

Then we entered the museum where we were magnetized by many works of Michelangelo. But one sculpture in particular mesmerized me. A white marble statue, its head almost touching the ceiling, came into view. I immediately recognized it. I walked briskly, stopping close to it and stretching my neck to look up at the head of the 17-foot-tall young man! Words such as magnificence, supreme skill, and work of a genius lost their meaning. What was this other worldly wonder that I was facing? I circumambulated it three times as if it was the image of God in sanctum sanctorum of the most sacred structure.

The sculpture carved from white marble seemed to have come from some divine realm. I marveled at its exquisite details – feet, legs, thighs, genitals (which at certain periods in history were covered with a fig leaf) hips, torso, arms, left hand holding a sling, chest, back, shoulders, right hand holding a stone, head, face, hair. Such realistic anatomy was reflected in bulging veins and muscle details. The facial expression was shown in the furrowed brow and piercing gaze. The jugular vein was visibly distended to suggest David’s state of high tension and excitement. The visually dynamic effect drew me into the figure’s form.

What a depiction of eternal youthfulness, strength and health! My pulse ran faster. My heart hurt. My eyes welled up. 

Michelangelo was only 26 years old when he began carving David from a discarded marble block and 29 when he completed it (between the years 1501-1504). The young man seems to have stepped out of the block. How could a mere mortal create a thing of such splendor, such incredible beauty? The master sculptor had transmuted matter into spirit.An engagement with a masterpiece is similar to an encounter with nature’s beauty. It allows us to experience creative “flow,”  drops us in that timeless zone of “here-now,” when object and subject merge and time stops. When we see a beautiful object and what we experience. When we feel peerless, at our best and happiest. Our chattering ego goes quiet. Clock time falls away. Self-doubt leaves us. We surrender and trust. We feel selfless. Timeless. Effortless. Enriched.