I have, however, chosen the Medici chapel as the spot best suited for his biography, and therefore will here dwell only on the originals that are preserved about the David.

The David himself, superb and confident, is the first thing you see in entering the doors of the gallery.

He stands at the end, white and glorious, with his eyes steadfastly measuring his antagonist and calculating upon what will be his next move if the sling misdirects the stone.

Of the objection to the statue as being not representative of the Biblical figure I have said something in the chapter on the Bargello, where several Davids come under review.

Yet, after all that can be said against its dramatic fitness, the statue remains an impressive and majestic yet strangely human thing.