My central interest in the Galleria dell'Accademia was the David sculpture by Michelangelo. I don't want to diminish the Bertolini and Inglesi works, the Pozzi, or the Prigione --also done by Michelangelo...but David's size, his placement in the Accademia, and my entrance into the hallway leading to his form through a heavy lavender drape could only have been better had I been listening--at the same time-- to Mussorgsky's exalted Bydlo from Pictures at an Exhibition on my ipod (with the volume turned up to drown out the valley girl dialogue going on nearby).
I sat on a bench below David's left side and began to do some gesture drawing...and then I stopped and simply attended to him...noting the form, the texture, the shadows, the lines, the details of his feet, his hair, his veins---really seeking to look deeply and carefully....and quietly.
Italy is not much different from the U.S. in our human resistance to attentiveness and reflection. The crowd gathered at David's feet was not quiet...at least not noticeably or generally. David, Bertolini, and the whole group of artists in the Accademia warrant our internal silence...a shutting of the mouth for a few moments...to embrace the form and its creator..and to hear our own internal response to the deed of remarkable creation.
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