The Birth of a Masterpiece

The Birth of a Masterpiece

               -- Michelangelo's David

If ever a work of art had a right to feel over exposed, it is Michelangelo's David, naked in the heart of Florence for nearly 5 centuries. In recent years his 1)manhood has been 2)appropriated for postcards, fridge magnates and even mouse mats. The great figure is of course 3)synonymous with the sculptor 1 Michelangelo Buonarrotti, but the marble block that became the David was already being worked on a decade before Michelangelo was even born.

It was 4)extracted from the hostile mountainside high up in the Alpune Alps, some 60 miles north of Florence. 5)Rivalry 2 between the city-states of 6)renaissance 3 Italy 7)put the story in motion; 8)provoked by the splendors 4 of Milan, the Florentine authorities commissioned 9)colossal 5 figures to rein 6 the rooftop of their 10)Cathedral, a hugely ambitious plan.

It was a man named Agustino Deduchio, an assistant to the 11)renowned 7 master sculptor Donetello, who was first commissions to make this David. His plan was to mine 4 separate blocks: one piece for the head, one for each arm and one for the body. The fate of three of the blocks is unknown. Only the stone intended for the 12)torso survived, but in itself it was the first such gigantic marble slab 8 to be 13)quarried since the sculptured giants of the Roman Empire were created over a thousand years earlier.

Deduchio had never taken on a project of this size, he was more at home with fairly undemanding reliefs, but he pressed on choosing to creat what appeared to be a clothed David. He carved a lot of 14)drapery on the chest, worked on the feet and made a hole between the legs, but it wasn't long before he was forced to give up, the sheer scale of the marble or perhaps the shallowness of the block defeating him.

It was to be another 12 years before the authorities regained 9 the confidence to commission another sculptor to try to make something of this troublesome figure. Antonio Rossolino was a 15)resourceful craftsman 10, but he too failed, becoming the second victim of the block's 16)intimidating 11 dimensions.

Michelangelo probably did come forward with a wax model and as it were in competition with anybody else who wanted the job, he talked them into allowing him to do the piece. So he got, I think, the commission by sheer competition and by being brilliant.

The David contract gave Michelangelo two years to complete the statue. His fee was fixed 12 at three gold 17)florins a month, a good artisan wage.

The piece is too large to work 18)horizontally, so it has to be 19)tackled upright. This means dust and stone raining down onto the sculptor. The shallowness of the marble now poses the greatest challenge. Working on a block as little as 2 feet deep in places, the margin for error is nonexistent. The creation has to be mathematically accurate, or the block will be ruined or the proportions lost. David might even be deprived of balance and crash to the floor in 20 tons of fragments. The architectural solution is a tree trunk carved behind the leg to support the figure while David stands in 20)contrapposto, the position where one leg is kept straight. If the sculptor then drops a 21)plumb 14 line from the throat to the foot, gravity will then be satisfied and the statue balanced.

Aside from inspiration, this was hard physical work, often 22)tedious and occupying 14 hours a day and 6 days a week. The powerful young sculptor, a little over five feet tall, must have felt that he was the David, facing a giant enemy.

A year into the commission, the Cathedral elders pay a visit to view the work in progress. They're amazed at what they see, whether they expected a 23)nude 15 is questionable 16 but were known to have been delighted, they had commissioned a masterpiece after all.

杰作的诞生

 ——大卫雕像

如果说有哪件艺术品给曝光过度，那就是在佛罗伦萨市中心赤身露体了近五个世纪的米开朗基罗的大卫。近年来，他的阳刚美态又见诸于明信片、冰箱磁贴、甚至鼠标垫上。自然，这座雕像就是米开朗基罗·博纳罗蒂的代名词，不过成为了大卫的这块大理石，早在米开朗基罗出生前十年就已经给在琢磨了。

大理石是从佛罗伦萨北部60英里外对立城邦的阿普亚卑高山上开采的。文艺复兴时期意大利各城邦间的竞争为这个故事拉开序幕；米兰的繁荣辉煌敦使佛罗伦萨的当权者也找人来制作巨型雕像，以放在他们的大教堂顶上，这是一个雄心勃勃的计划。

一个名叫阿加提诺·迪杜奇奥的人当时是著名雕刻大师唐纳特罗的副手，雕刻大卫的任务正是被首先委派给他的。他计划分别开采四块大理石：一块做头，两只手各一块，还有一块做身体。另外的三块大理石下落不明。只有要用来造躯干的石块给保留了下来，即便这块，也是一千多年以来罗马帝国为制作巨型雕像所首次开采的最大大理石块。

迪杜奇奥从来没有接过这么大规模的工程，他更擅长处理比较简单的浮雕，但他没有退缩，选择了刻一个穿衣服的大卫。他在胸前刻了许多衣摺，塑造出脚，在两腿之间打了个洞眼，可是很快他就不得不放弃这种做法了，可能是大理石的体积或薄度难倒了他。

又过了12年，当权者才重拾信心，委托另一名雕刻家来琢磨这个麻烦的雕像。安东尼奥·罗索里诺是个足智多谋的能工巧匠，但他也败下阵来，成为该尺寸刁钻的石块的第二名牺牲者。

米开朗基罗可能是做出了一个蜡模型，和其他想得到这份工作的人竞争，他游说他们让他来接这个活儿。结果我想他凭借聪明才智从激烈的竞争中脱颖而出，赢得了这项委任。

合约给米开朗基罗两年的时间来完成大卫雕像。他每个月固定领取3个金币，那是一名好工匠的薪酬。

石块横着放太大了，只能竖起来。这意味着尘土和石屑像雨点似地飘落在雕刻者的身上。大理石的单薄构成最大的挑战，有些地方仅厚两尺，下手不容有任何闪失。雕琢必须经过精确计算，否则石块会被毁掉，或者造成比例失调的后果。大卫甚至有可能失去平衡，坠倒在地上成为一堆20吨重的石砾。根据建筑学理论，要刻一根树干置于腿后来支撑雕像，大卫两腿对立站着，一条腿直立。如果雕刻家由雕像的喉咙向脚垂测，便看到因符合重力原理，雕像是平衡的。

除了要有灵感外，这还是相当累人而乏味的体力工作，每周工作六天，每天工作14小时。身高五英尺多一点、年轻强壮的雕刻家当时一定觉得他自己就是面对巨人的大卫。

委任一年后，教堂的长老前来参观工作的进度。眼前所见令他们叹为观止，无论之前他们是否期望看到一座裸体雕像，但我们知道他们感到很高兴，毕竟他们的委任塑造了一个杰作。

注释：

1) manhood [5mAnhud] n. 男子气概

2) appropriate [E5prEupriit] v. 挪用，盗用

3) synonymous [si5nCnimEs] a. 同义的

4) extract [iks5trAkt] v. 费力地取到

5) rivalry [5raIvElrI] n. 竞争，竞赛

6) renaissance [rE5neisEns] n. 文艺复兴

7) put sth. in motion 使某物开始运转

8) provoke [prE5vEuk] v. 煽动，惹起

9) colossal [kE5lCsl] a. 巨大的，庞大的

10) cathedral [kE5Wi:drEl] n. 大教堂

11) renowned [rI5naJnd] a. 有名的，有声誉的

12) torso [5tC:sEu] n. 裸体雕像的躯干部分

13) quarry 17 [5kwCri] v. 挖出，苦心找出

14) drapery [5dreipEri] n. 织物，布料

15) resourceful [ri5sC:sful] a. 足智多谋的

16) intimidating [in5timideitiN] a. 威胁的，恐吓的

17) florin [5flCrin] n. 弗罗林，一种金币

18) horizontally [7hCri5zCntli] adv. 地平地，水平地

19) tackle [5tAkl] v. 固定，处理

20) contrapposto [7kCntrE5pCstE] n.（雕塑或绘画中以对立方式表现出人体各部分的）对应

21) plumb line 用铅垂线检查垂直度

22) tedious [5ti:diEs] a. 单调乏味的

23) nude [nju:d] n. 裸体