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Article: Rage Of Restoration; He turns 500 this year but Michelangelo's David is ageing pretty well. Yet not everyone is happy with the way he is currently being cared for, says Alan Taylor
- Article from:
- The Sunday Herald
- Article date:
- February 29, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 The Sunday Herald. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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THE last time I visited Michelangelo's David, he was in the
process of being cleaned. It was the end of 2003 and, in the Museo
Dell' Accademia in Florence, where David has been in residence since
1873, he was surrounded by boards preventing anyone from getting too
close. He was not, however, shut off to public view. He is much too
important a tourist draw, and too commercially lucrative, for that to
be countenanced.
For many visitors to the cradle of the Renaissance, David
personifies the artistic glory of the 16th century. One of the
world's greatest works of art, he is one of a triumvirate of reasons -