Michelangelo
Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499. The republic was changing after the fall of its leader, anti-Renaissance priest Girolamo Savonarola, who was executed in 1498, and the rise of the "gonfaloniere" Piero Soderini. Michelangelo was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue of Carrara marble portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom to be placed on the gable of Florence Cathedral. Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the statue of David, in 1504. The masterwork definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination. A team of consultants, including Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, was called together to decide upon its placement, ultimately the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It now stands in the Academia while a replica occupies its place in the square.
Madonna of the Caves
Its dating to 1488–1490 is based on Giorgio Vasari's description of Francesco I de' Medici's collections, which attributes it to Mantegna's time in Rome. Some have linked it to a work commissioned from Mantegna by Lorenzo de' Medici and mentioned in a letter from Lorenzo. Other historians date it differently due to its style and figuration. However, Mantegna's re-use of certain themes like rocky backgrounds throughout his career makes it difficult to date uncertain works definitively.