I know it is only a replica, of course. The original of Michelangelo’s David is safely tucked into the Accademia Gallery just north of where I am standing outside Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. But there is something about seeing what is perhaps the most famous sculpture of all time in its original spot, where it was installed to be accessible to the Florentine public. (The place was actually chosen by a committee including Leonardo da Vinci.) And even a replica is able to evoke the emotion that this particular piece produces in art lovers from around the world. The way the muscles flex, the way the face shines… this is truly stone come to life. So many artists are emblematic of the Renaissance, but Michelangelo stands above them all, symbolizing a huge shift in what art was and why art was created.

The word Renaissance literally means renewal or rebirth. It marked a return to a world reminiscent of Ancient Rome or Athens, one of public art, of major building projects, of scientific breakthroughs, and of philosophy more independent of religious influence. And it began here in Florence. From 1434 through the next two hundred years, the Renaissance would sweep from this relatively small city in northern Italy, and would envelop the world.

Michelangelo was born in the Republic of Florence in 1475. The Renaissance had officially begun a few decades prior, and the young artist achieved early success with commissions here in the city sponsored by the elite, and particularly the Medici. (Click here to read about the Medici family.) David was completed before the man who would come to be known as Il Divino (The Divine One) turned thirty. Michelangelo would go down in history as perhaps the greatest sculptor ever (with apologies to Bernini who would come after) and one of the greatest painters. His fame was such that he was the first western artist whose biography was published while he was still alive.

Michelangelo would spend most of his life going back and forth between Florence and Rome as the Medici and various popes competed for the artist to take on their projects. As a result, many of his works are somewhat unfinished. One example is inside of Florence’s Medici Chapel, where Michelangelo was commissioned to create the ornate tombs of a couple members of the family, specifically for Lorenzo the Magnificent. His Medici Madonna, which tops that tomb, is complete, but two nearby tombs that feature sculptures of Night and Day, and of Dawn and Dusk, are not. To me, that only adds to their beauty, as it appears the sculptures jump out of the marble blocks.

These sculptures are emblematic of what Renaissance art is all about. If the word Renaissance means a return or renewal, in the art world it refers to a return to scenes of nature and mythology, to a realism of the human form, and to symbology and personification of things like emotion and the elements that hadn’t been seen since the days of Ancient Rome. Art in the Middle Ages in Europe consisted mainly of religious scenes and of formal portraiture. It was done with less realism (in the sense of scenery) and more for allegory. Figures were fairly two dimensional, backgrounds lacked depth, anatomy was obscured in favor of modesty, and anything not specifically biblical was deemed heretical. The sculpting of nude representations of abstract concepts like dawn and dusk was unheard of.

While Florence is full of world-class art museums, nowhere is the shift from Middle Age art to that of the Renaissance better represented than the Uffizi. Literally meaning the offices of the Medici family, the base collection is that of commissioned works by this most wealthy of Florentine families from the early banking days to the Grand Ducal dynasty. Artwork of the Middle Ages and that of the Renaissance sit in rooms off of main hallways lined with the Roman art that would inspire Michelangelo and his peers. One needs only follow the crowds (and despite a fairly hefty entrance fee there are crowds indeed) to find the most iconic works, and to use those to identify what sets Renaissance artwork apart.

One of the most major themes of Renaissance art is, as mentioned above, a return to Greek and Roman mythology. I fight the crowd to get close to one of my favorite paintings, The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, another of the Medici favorites. Here, a mostly nude Venus, her flowing hair covering some of the more private bits, emerges from a shell. While the background water is pretty two dimensional and unrealistic, the painting, completed in 1486, shows the transition in art from completely modest religious scenes to more anatomically correct scenes out of pagan myth.

Religious scenes were still part of Renaissance art, of course. Here at the Uffizi, the Michelangelo Room is dedicated around a single panel painting by the genius, the only original single panel to survive. Restored between 1984 and 2008, Tondo Doni depicts the holy family. But a closer inspection shows the realism that sets Renaissance art apart from that of the Middle Ages. Flowing cloth is relatively form-fitting, allowing for realistic images of people and their clothing in the foreground, while usage of a true background makes the painting almost seem three dimensional. This usage of a true and detailed background – with as much attention put on it as on the main foreground subject – is a revelation.

Michelangelo would ultimately come to live most of his time in Rome, but he purchased a home to use while he was in Florence. Casa Buonarroti was left to the artist’s heirs (he himself had no children) and was expanded into a small palace by his grand-nephew Michelangelo the Younger, who used it to show off his family’s history. Today, the house displays a few of Michelangelo’s early works, like the Madonna of the Stairs. It also has some models of later works, scenes from his life, and busts done of the artist.

Michelangelo would die in Rome in 1564, but he is buried here in an ornate tomb in the basilica of Santa Croce. Color streams down on the marble tomb, one Michelangelo himself might even be proud of.

While so many of The Divine One’s most famous works are in Rome, Michelangelo is inseparably part of Florence. Originals and copies of his works are all over, and not only in the museums. (I didn’t even go inside the Accademia, as my day earmarked for that particular aspect of Florence was ruined by feeling under the weather.) The Genius of Victory from 1534 sits inside the Palazzo Vecchio. Another David replica, this one in bronze, adorns the Piazzale Michelangelo south of the Arno, which also has the best lookout point over the city.

The art of the Renaissance would mark a return to aspects of ancient art: realism, especially in terms of the human form; usage of allegory and mythology; and art for public display. Nowhere can this better be seen than here in Florence, and no artist better showcases this renewal than Michelangelo.

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