I’ve discovered and love Bernini’s portrayal of David ten times over Michelangelo’s. Michelangelo’s says “I am a superhuman who is thinking hard about my overly idealized form and non-existential pants.”

http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/michelangelo_david2.jpg

Most of the photos get it wrong by viewing the statue from the level, which is not what it was designed for. It towers as an inverted trapezoid so that David’s head and shoulders are inordinately large, which is not appealing. The purpose of that design was to defy perspective when viewed from below, at a distance, so that David appears near, in front perspecitve, and proportional while he is actually distant and viewed from below. But, and I’m sorry, if the statue is photographed from the angle it was designed to be viewed from -

http://www.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/classes/ah111/L18/18-8.jpg

- it places his woinker smack-dab in the center of focus. The eye moves up to head, then right back down to the smack-dab center of focus. And wow, take a look at that. Where’s your Bathsheba now, oh Exposed One?

[I first wrote that the head is stoically stern and emotionally removed. It’s not - it’s expressive - he looks worried and a bit withdrawn.]

But you know what, it is a very impressive statue, from the correct angle. I understand it’s the culmination of theories on perfect form and harmony in sculpture, etc. Theory. Yawn. It’s just that it only communicates the perfection of the human form, which is very valid and striking in itself. Nonetheless, I just like what Bernini’s statue communicates more -

Bernini’s statue shows David as human, not super-human. He is in action, hastily putting the stone in the sling while looking straight out toward Goliath, with a look of great concentration and I think even defiance on his face, biting his lip. The whole pose is sort of awkward and says “shepherd boy”.

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/bernini/bernini_david2.jpg
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/baroquetheory/images/berninidaviddet2.jpg
http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/art/faculty/Fontana/Bernini%20David%20med.jpg
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/baroquetheory/images/berninidavid.jpg

As I said, I love the second statue. A lot. Ten times over.