I had never thought Michelangelo's David would be so big. The figure alone is 4.34 metres tall (14'2"). Look how small the people are directly in front of the statue (above).
Michelangelo was commissioned for it when he was only 26, and he worked on it for more than two years. The marble statue represents the Biblical hero David – the dude who allegedly killed Goliath.
According to the Bible, David used a sling to hurl a stone at Goliath, hitting him in the forehead. Goliath fell to the ground and David then cut off his head. Nice touch.
According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Goliath height was 2.06 metres (6'9"). Someone shoulda told Michelangelo this when he was carving out the statue. He woulda saved a lot of time and a lot of marble.
You're not allowed to take pictures in Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, where David resides, but I was able to get this sneaky shot by blindly pointing my camera in the right direction.
