The Deviating Eyes of Michelangelo's David: Saad Shaikh James Leonard-Amodeo

JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE Volume 98 February 2005
The deviating eyes of Michelangelo’s David
MEDICINE AND ART

Saad Shaikh MD 1 James Leonard-Amodeo 2
J R Soc Med 2005;98:75–76
‘In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though primary position while the left eye appears to be looking
it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and out to the left (Figure 1). The likely reason why this detail
action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that has been unrecognized for hundreds of years is that most
imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other viewers have been physically unable to examine the David at
eyes as mine see it.’—Michelangelo eye level and at arms-length. The statue, about 5 metres tall
in addition to its supporting pedestal, was meant to be
In 1501 Michelangelo received a commission from the viewed from below and, presumably, at a distance. In 1999,
Guild of Wool Merchants of Florence to carve out a giant the Digital Michelangelo Project, led by Stanford University
statue for one of the buttresses of the Cathedral of Florence. and Marc Levoy, professor of computer science and
The David was started in 1501 when Michelangelo was only engineering, rendered a three-dimensional computer
26 years of age, and finished in 1504, when he was not yet model that permitted the work to be viewed from different
30, and stands as a testament to Michelangelo’s mastery of angles and with varying light intensity and colour
the human form and sculpture. Previous works had shown modulation.6 A digitally rendered direct frontal image—a
the subject just after he had slain and beheaded Goliath. perspective not easily attainable by photography and
Michelangelo’s David broke new ground by depicting a
‘most beautiful animal preparing to kill—not by savagery
and brute force, but by intellect and skill’.1
Direct anatomical dissection was forbidden during the
Renaissance and artists who wished to view the inside of the
human body had to do so almost in secret. When
Michelangelo fashioned a life-sized wooden crucifix altar-
piece for the Santo Spirito in Florence, the prior allowed
him access to bodies awaiting burial.2 The practice of
anatomy became a passion for Michelangelo and his works
correctly demonstrated numerous anatomical structures.
He even contemplated publishing a treatise on anatomy
together with his physician, Realdo Colombo, who treated
him for kidney stones and later rose to become professor
and medical consultant to the Vatican.3 So real were
Michelangelo’s works that they were used as models by
other artists of the era and for centuries afterwards. In
addition, ‘pathological’ features in his paintings and
sculptures have attracted much attention in medical
journals.4
For all Michelangelo’s mastery of human anatomy, the
David possesses certain anatomical imperfections. The right
hand is bigger than the left with an enlarged abductor digiti
minimi—suggested as a device to draw attention to the
stone as a symbol of his courage and physical power.5 Yet
the most significant anomaly is in the David’s eyes, which
seem to manifest an exodeviation. The right eye is in the
1
Central Florida Retina Consultants, 44 Lake Beauty Drive Suite 300, Orlando, Figure 1. Head of David . On eye level and rotated slightly left (from the
Florida 32806, USA statue’s perspective) of the frontal plane, the left eye fixates on the
2
Online Fine Arts Magazine (http://www.sierra-arts.net) viewer while the right eye appears to be looking at the distance away
*Correspondence to: Saad Shaikh MD from the viewer. [Courtesy of The Fine Arts Magazine ] 75
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE Volume 98 February 2005
is openly active and dynamic. To achieve this effect,

Michelangelo deliberately made body parts disproportionate.
As regards the eyes, only one can be seen at a time as
the observer walks around the statue. Michelangelo uses the
David’s exodeviation as an artistic tool. Approaching the
statue from its left, the viewer notes that the left eye is
staring towards (and above) him, as if focusing cunningly on
the giant Goliath. However, the right eye is not fully visible
from this angle because it is hidden behind the sling. If one
stands to the statue’s right and circles around the right, the
right eye remains visible but the left eye disappears.
Michelangelo must have calculated every angle and
considered the position of the viewer when carving out
the eyes. The left eye accords with the direction of the
body’s intended move—David would be throwing the stone
Figure 2. Head of David . Computer rendered frontal image of the toward his left and the eye, naturally, would fixate its gaze
David confirming an exodeviation. [Courtesy of the Digital Michelangelo in that direction. The right eye, when combined with the
Project and Stanford University] rest of the body seen from the right side, accords perfectly
with those qualities the commissioners of the work wanted
certainly not by floor observation—indicated that the David the statue to reflect—power, cunning and intelligence.
is exotropic (Figure 2). Albeit we all interpret art according to individual
When one views the David closely, a general asymmetry experience and no doubt the biases of a physician are
of proportion is evident, with the head and upper body affected by the study of medicine, most would agree that
proportionally larger than the lower body. Lois Fichner- Michelangelo fashioned his David with a sublime balance of
Rathus in her classic textbook Understanding Art notes that a power, intellect, and neoclassical beauty. An ophthalmol-
new concept of artistic space takes form with the David’s ogist, though, would find it difficult to believe that an
positioning: exotropic David could have successfully disposed of Goliath
with a sling.
No longer does the figure remain still in a Classical
REFERENCES
contraposto stance, but rather extends into the
surrounding space away from a vertical axis. This 1 Fichner-Rathus L. Understanding Art. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 1995
movement outward from a central core forces the
2 Symonds JA. The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Project Gutenberg
viewer to take into account both the form and the space EBook. Available at [www.gutenberg.net/1/1/2/4/11242/11242.txt]
between and surrounding the forms—in order to accessed 25 April 2004
appreciate the complete composition.1 3 Eknoyan G, De Santo NG. Realdo Colombo (1516–1559). A
reappraisal. Am J Nephrol 1997;17:261–8
To comprehend the sculpture fully a viewer must 4 Strauss RM, Marzo-Ortega H. Michelangelo and medicine. J R Soc Med
2002;95:514–15
circumambulate the work, and then finds the David’s
5 King R. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling. New York: Penguin USA,
appearance changing dramatically. The right-hand side of 2003
the statue is smooth and composed while the left-side, from 6 Levoy M. The Digital Michelangelo Project. Available at [http://
the outstretched foot all the way up to the dishevelled hair, graphics.stanford.edu/projects/mich/] accessed 25 April 2004
76

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE Volume 98 February 2005

The deviating eyes of Michelangelo’s David

MEDICINE AND ART

J R Soc Med 2005;98:75–76

is openly active and dynamic. To achieve this effect,

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