1 00:00:06,611 --> 00:00:08,545 When we think of classic works of art, 2 00:00:08,545 --> 00:00:12,364 the most common setting we imagine them in is a museum. 3 00:00:12,364 --> 00:00:14,815 But what we often forget is that much of this art 4 00:00:14,815 --> 00:00:17,528 was not produced with a museum setting in mind. 5 00:00:17,528 --> 00:00:19,221 What happens to an artwork 6 00:00:19,221 --> 00:00:22,807 when it's taken out of its originally intended context? 7 00:00:22,807 --> 00:00:26,302 Take the example of Michelangelo's Statue of David, 8 00:00:26,302 --> 00:00:29,931 depicting the boy hero who slew the giant philistine, Goliath, 9 00:00:29,931 --> 00:00:33,051 armed with only his courage and his slingshot. 10 00:00:33,051 --> 00:00:37,291 When Michelangelo began carving a block of pure white marble 11 00:00:37,291 --> 00:00:39,558 to communicate this famous Biblical story, 12 00:00:39,558 --> 00:00:42,351 the city of Florence intended to place the finished product 13 00:00:42,351 --> 00:00:44,620 atop their grand cathedral. 14 00:00:44,620 --> 00:00:46,880 Not only would the 17 foot tall statue 15 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,995 be easily visible at this height, 16 00:00:48,995 --> 00:00:51,895 but its placement alongside 11 other statues 17 00:00:51,895 --> 00:00:55,055 of Old Testament heroes towering over onlookers 18 00:00:55,055 --> 00:00:57,659 would have a powerful religious significance, 19 00:00:57,659 --> 00:01:01,722 forcing the viewer to stare in awe towards the heavens. 20 00:01:01,722 --> 00:01:05,255 But by the time Michelangelo had finished the work, in 1504, 21 00:01:05,255 --> 00:01:08,381 the plans for the other statues had fallen through, 22 00:01:08,381 --> 00:01:11,729 and the city realized that lifting such a large sculpture to the roof 23 00:01:11,729 --> 00:01:14,196 would be more difficult than they had thought. 24 00:01:14,196 --> 00:01:17,432 Furthermore, the statue was so detailed and lifelike, 25 00:01:17,432 --> 00:01:19,689 down to the bulging veins in David's arm 26 00:01:19,689 --> 00:01:22,013 and the determination on his face, 27 00:01:22,013 --> 00:01:26,089 that it seemed a shame to hide it so far from the viewer. 28 00:01:26,089 --> 00:01:28,056 A council of politicians and artists 29 00:01:28,056 --> 00:01:31,436 convened to decide on a new location for the statue. 30 00:01:31,436 --> 00:01:34,928 Ultimately voting to place it in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, 31 00:01:34,928 --> 00:01:38,564 the town hall and home of the new Republican government. 32 00:01:38,564 --> 00:01:41,439 This new location transformed the statue's meaning. 33 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:44,660 The Medici family, who for generations had ruled the city 34 00:01:44,660 --> 00:01:48,386 through their control of banking, had recently been exiled, 35 00:01:48,386 --> 00:01:50,746 and Florence now saw itself as a free city, 36 00:01:50,746 --> 00:01:54,026 threatened on all sides by wealthy and powerful rivals. 37 00:01:54,026 --> 00:01:58,200 David, now the symbol of heroic resistance against overwhelming odds, 38 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,290 was placed with his intense stare, 39 00:02:00,290 --> 00:02:04,134 now a look of stern warning, focused directly towards Rome, 40 00:02:04,134 --> 00:02:06,819 the home of Cardinal Giovanni de Medici. 41 00:02:06,819 --> 00:02:09,403 Though the statue itself had not been altered, 42 00:02:09,403 --> 00:02:12,267 its placement changed nearly every aspect of it 43 00:02:12,267 --> 00:02:15,106 from a religious to a political significance. 44 00:02:15,106 --> 00:02:18,524 Though a replica of David still appears at the Palazzo, 45 00:02:18,524 --> 00:02:21,415 the original statue was moved in 1873 46 00:02:21,415 --> 00:02:25,676 to the Galleria dell'Accademia, where it remains today. 47 00:02:25,676 --> 00:02:28,660 In the orderly, quiet environment of the museum, 48 00:02:28,660 --> 00:02:31,832 alongside numerous half-finished Michelangelo sculptures, 49 00:02:31,832 --> 00:02:35,205 overt religious and political interpretations fall away, 50 00:02:35,205 --> 00:02:38,220 giving way to detached contemplation of Michelangelo's 51 00:02:38,220 --> 00:02:40,454 artistic and technical skill. 52 00:02:40,454 --> 00:02:43,118 But even here, the astute viewer may notice 53 00:02:43,118 --> 00:02:46,563 that David's head and hand appear disproportionately large, 54 00:02:46,563 --> 00:02:49,561 a reminder that they were made to be viewed from below. 55 00:02:49,561 --> 00:02:52,995 So, not only does context change the meaning 56 00:02:52,995 --> 00:02:55,680 and interpretation of an artwork throughout its history, 57 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,136 sometimes it can make that history resurface 58 00:02:59,136 --> 00:03:01,172 in the most unexpected ways.