Florence, Italy: Even David's ship is dusty.
Every two months, Michelangelo's masterpiece, completed in 1504, undergoes a meticulous cleaning at its home in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, where it has remained for more than 150 years.
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Considered by many awestruck viewers to represent the ideal man, the 17-foot (5.1 m) statue carved from a single block of marble stands alone under the skylight of the domed gallery on Monday, when the museum is closed.
His personal restorer, Eleonora Bucci, climbs onto the scaffolding for a closer look — part of the observing and cleaning ritual needed to preserve the Renaissance icon that was visited by more than two million visitors last year.
Despite David's good looks and biblical heritage, the Goliath slayer needs maintenance.
The museum's director, Cecilie Holberg, told a group of journalists on Monday, “The statue that is not cleaned regularly, if you approach it and look at it from the bottom to the top, you will see a form of lint.”
“It's not beautiful and it's not worthy of the artwork that we keep in this museum,” Holberg said.
So the cleaning that David does every two months is “a form of respect, a form of dignity that we want to give to every work.”
“Precise work”
With a furrow in his forehead, a bulging vein in his neck, a weight on his right foot and a slingshot in his left hand, David remained focused on Goliath, oblivious to the preparation going on around him.
Pucci, a petite woman wearing a white lab coat, white hard hat, jeans and sneakers, rushes to the top of the scaffold where she begins taking photos to monitor David's “health condition,” Holberg said.
After attaching the backpack vacuum cleaner, the dust removal process begins.
The marble statue undergoes a meticulous cleaning process.
Image credit: Agence France-Presse
With precise sweeping movements, Pucci runs a soft synthetic brush across David's bent left arm, directing particles from his forearm to the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner, which never touches the statue.
Next is his left thigh, where her delicate brush traces the muscles that Michelangelo sculpted in Carrara marble, before the scaffolding is moved and Pucci works again on David's back.
As the scaffold rattles though it's closed, Butchi hits David's shoulders with her brush as she leans over to examine his curly locks – where spiders sometimes leave little webs.
“It is very precise work, requires a lot of concentration, and needs to be monitored centimeter by centimeter in order to control the condition of maintaining the work – which is in great condition,” Holberg said.
Residual dust deposits can affect the luster of the marble, making it more gray and dull.
Italian restorer Eleonora Bucci cleans Michelangelo's David.
Image credit: Agence France-Presse
Smooth parts are easier to clean than rough areas, which are more likely to pick up dust.
Filters in the museum's advanced air conditioning system significantly reduced air particles, while sensors help control temperature and humidity levels, Holberg said.
She added that the cleaning process takes at least half a day due to the scaffolding used, and other statues and paintings in the museum receive similar treatment.
The first giant statue since antiquity and the symbol of Florence, Michelangelo's David, was unveiled at the dawn of the 16th century before an enthusiastic audience in the main square of the Renaissance city, Piazza della Signoria.
Michelangelo was only 29 years old when he finished his masterpiece.
It remained in the square until 1873 when it was moved to its current location, with the museum built around it.
A copy now stands in Piazza della Signoria.
Another of the museum's masterpieces, Michelangelo's Slaves – which was conceived for the tomb of Pope Julius II but never completed – arrived later in 1939.
