David (Michelangelo)
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. "David" is a marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence.
Masculine psychology
Among artists and scientists during the Renaissance, it was the prevailing belief that the study of the male form was in itself a study of God. Michelangelo's "David" is based upon this artistic discipline, which is known as "disegno". Under this discipline, sculpture is considered to be the finest form of art because it mimics divine creation. Because Michelangelo adhered to the concepts of "disegno", he worked under the premise that the image of "David" was already in the block of stone he was working on—in much the same way as the human soul is thought by some to be found within the physical body as concluded by psychoanalytic theory.