Two Nudes Fighting

1501–1505 · Workplace

Florence

1504

Completes the “David”

The consuls of the Wool Guild asked Michelangelo to complete a colossal Carrara marble David begun forty years earlier by Agostino di Duccio, a symbol of Florentine freedom. A council of masters including Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino and his friend Granacci chose where the finished statue should stand.

1504

A contest with Leonardo: “The Battle of Cascina”

Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the fresco “The Battle of Cascina” for the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio, in a competition with Leonardo da Vinci decreed by the Signoria.

8 June 1504

The “David” is unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria

The statue Michelangelo had worked on since 1501 was unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria. Many citizens were shocked by the boldness of showing the biblical hero entirely nude, yet the “David” became the embodiment of the pride of Florentines then fighting the republic's enemies.

1505

Julius II commissions his tomb

Pope Julius II summoned Michelangelo to Rome and commissioned him to design a huge mausoleum in the middle of St Peter's, a structure with a chapel inside adorned with dozens of statues. He spent eight months in Carrara choosing the marble, while Rome overwhelmed him with the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the forums.

17 April 1506

A quarrel with the pope and a secret flight from Rome

Both the artist and Julius II had hot tempers and soon quarrelled; Michelangelo left Rome in secret for Florence and stayed there until the Florentine government pressed him to return to the pope.