Gifting scrapbooks, appropriate and inappropriate occasions.

(-Academia-) The installation of art in the Uffizi made viewing the works somewhat difficult. The installation of the David, however, in the Academia was well thought out. Walking into the main gallery the first thing you see looking to your right is the David. It seems gigantic (partially because it is). The form and depth are immediately apparent even from a distance.

The craft used to create it is emphasized through its installation. Natural light entering from the skylight lights the work in heavy contrast bringing out its form. Surrounding walls are painted the color of the marble. You see the form only because of the light and the skill with which the form is carved. The stand on which it is placed functions in more than creating a similar perspective as its intended viewing angle. The Sculpture is raised above the crowd so that there is not a point in the room where it cannot be seen in whole. This raising does a third thing. The David is raised towards the Ceiling. Much like a Christmas tree that doesn’t seem big outside, but once it comes indoors it transforms into a new larger tree, the David’s size is increased with its introduction to an enclosed space.

More interesting to me than the David was a plaster mock-up by _______. In an oddly self referential choice the sculpture’s arm is wrapped around a bust. The position of this head clearly defines it as a bust. It is lower to the ground. Were it to be a full person it would have to be the main figure’s conjoined twin. The figures both seem a little jovial for this to be true. That there is emotion at all in the figures is strange when compared to almost any other piece of the time. I have to wonder if it was created as a joke or some inside studio project. Even stranger if it were a marble sculpture somewhere. It feels like a joke postcard. One that I would buy.