Galleria dell'Accademia

The 5.5 m block had been quarried in 1464, botched, and abandoned for 35 years before 26-year-old Michelangelo took the 'spoiled' stone in 1501 and freed David from it. The oversized head and hand were tuned for viewing from the cathedral roofline, his intended perch.

Approach through the corridor of the four unfinished Prisoners, chisel marks legible: Michelangelo's belief made visible that the figure already exists in the stone.

Circle David fully: from the front he is calm; from his slingshot side the brow hardens. He is not victorious, he is deciding: the moment before the fight, which no David before him dared show.