Art History, Pass the Pizza, Dude

Right now in Art history, we are going over the Ninja Turtles: Leonardo and Michelangelo, how they were influence by Donatello, and later, how Raphael was influenced by the three of them. Today's lesson was about how Michelangelo's David got Splintered.

This famous statue has suffered decent amounts of man-inflicted damage; three times, in fact. The first was was when it was being transported from Mikey's workshop to Palazzo Vecchio. David has long been a symbol of the Republic and Florintine independence, which didn't go over so well with supporters of the Medici family, who ruled the city on and off for centuries. As they were moving the statue, a group of Medici supporters stoned the sculpture and the people carrying it.

More recently, sometime within the last 25 years, though I don't know exactly when, a crazy man rushed into the museum David was eventually moved to and began pounding away at his feet with a hammer, managing to break off several toes.

My favorite story is from the 1500's, when another Medici supporter got angry at those in power. He came out of meeting on the third floor of Palazzo Vecchio (City Hall), grabbed a bench from the hall, and hurled it out an open window at the statue, breaking off his raised arm and cracking it in two places.

David has, of course, been restored and repaired, and is looking pretty darn good for being over 500 years old.

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A little update on the Peace Project: We have a few new people signed up, and I've also added Scotland and England (as well as Whales, which as already been taken) to the list as separate countries. If you are from Ravelry, I'm hoping to get a group started on there by early next week--I've even got a banner already made. Two of them, actually. I could use some help spreading the word, though. I've posted about this project just about everywhere I can think of. If you know of anyone who might be interested, pass along the message and the link. If there's a website or other forum you think would be interested, please let me know so I can post there.

Cowabungah!!!