David, David: The Beloved, prophet, musician, poet 23.5cm Full length alabaster statue, Christian

David is a

Masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17 ft 0 in) marble statue of the Biblical figure David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. David was commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government, on 8 September 1504. It was moved to the Galleria dell ‘Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and replaced at the original location by a replica. Because of the nature of the figure it represented, the statue soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were fixated towards Rome where the Medici family lived. David is described in the Hebrew Bible as the third king of the United Monarchy of Israel and Judah. In the Books of Samuel, David is a young shepherd and harpist who gains fame by slaying the giant Goliath, a champion of the Philistines in southern Canaan.

Source Wikipedia