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Updated: 2004-09-08 09:33
Michelangelo's David turns 500

“大卫”500岁了!

Michelangelo's restored and cleaned statue of David at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. The statue is about to celebrate its 500th birthday. (Reuters)

Tall and handsome, he has the kind of Baywatch muscles that would make many of both sexes drool.

He is about to celebrate his 500th birthday. He is Michelangelo's statue of David.

"I knew he was old but I wasn't aware he was turning 500," said Pat Fisico, a Canadian on holiday in Florence. "I don't think he looks a day over 22. I hope he will be around for another 5,000 years."

So do Florentine officials who are preparing to fete the birthday boy in his birthday suit.

On September 8, 500 years to the day that the icon of Renaissance male beauty was unveiled for the people of Florence, his modern-day co-citizens are kicking off a year of events to celebrate David in style.

There will be concerts, fireworks, symposiums and exhibitions. There is, of course, an official David 500 T-shirt.

But most of all, arts officials want the half-millennium of one of the world's most famous nude statues to get people looking forward and not only backwards.

"Florence is seen as a Disneyland of the Renaissance," said Antonio Paolucci, superintendent of city museums.

"We want David's 500th birthday to spark debate, to be controversial, to challenge people about what art is today, not just what it was 500 years ago," he said at a conference presenting the birthday events at the Accademia museum where David has been displayed since 1873.

A 26-year old Michelangelo sculpted David, who is more than 4 meters high, between 1502 and 1504 from a single piece of poor quality marble other sculptors had rejected.

Earlier this year, restorers gave the symbol of the Florentine Republic a controversial eight-month mild cleaning, an intervention some called a $600,000 sponge bath.

Paolucci dismissed critics who feared the statue might be damaged. He said the final results showed that David was just cleaner. "He's the David we always knew," he said.

David, who wears only his slingshot, has seen the best and the worst of times in Italy's premier Renaissance city.

In 1527, he lost the lower half of his left arm in a riot. In 1810, the statue was covered with a protective wax and in 1843 an attempt to remove the wax with hydrochloric acid also stripped away some of the original patina.

In 1991, a crazed Italian artist smashed one of his toes with a hammer.

(Agencies)

高大英俊的他,肌肉发达,就像美国电视系列剧《海滩救生员》中的男主角那样令众多男女羡慕不已。

他即将庆祝自己的500岁生日。他就是米开朗基罗的“大卫”雕像。

“我知道他并不年轻,但是我真的没有意识到他就快500岁了。我看他还不超过22岁,真希望再过5000年他看上去还是这么年轻。”正在佛罗伦萨度假的加拿大游客帕特·菲西科说。

佛罗伦萨的官员们也有同样的想法,他们正在准备为这个过生日的男孩穿上生日礼服。

500年前的9月8日,这个象征着文艺复兴的美男子首次展现在佛罗伦萨人民面前,500年后的今天,和他同住一城的居民们即将拉开为期一年别具一格的活动来庆祝“大卫”的500周岁生日。

届时,将举办各种音乐会、烟火晚会、座谈会和展览等活动。当然,少不了纪念“大卫”500岁生日的官方版T恤。

不过,文化艺术官员们更希望人们从这座世界上最著名的裸体雕像500年的风雨历程中展望未来,而不仅仅是回忆过去。

佛罗伦萨城市博物馆馆长安东尼奥·保卢奇说:“佛罗伦萨在文艺复兴时期就是一个迪斯尼乐园。”

他在佛罗伦萨美术学院美术馆举办的生日纪念活动大会上表示:“我们希望大卫的500岁生日能够激发人们的争论,激励人们去思考什么是当今的艺术,而不仅仅停留在研究500年前的艺术。” 从1873年起,“大卫”雕像就被陈列在佛罗伦萨美术学院的美术馆里。

在1502到1504年间,26岁的米开朗基罗利用一块其他雕刻家都看不上眼、质量很差的大理石创作了4米多高的“大卫”雕像。

今年早些时候,修理工对这座佛罗伦萨共和国的标志性雕塑进行了一次为期8个月的适度清洗。不过这次清洗工作颇受争议,甚至有人称这一举动是耗费了60万美元的“海绵浴”。

保卢奇驳斥了那些担心雕像可能会受到损伤的批评。他表示,最终的结果表明大卫像只是更干净了。他还说:“他还是那个我们熟悉的大卫。”

“大卫”只带着一把弹弓,但他见证了意大利文艺复兴时期第一城的兴衰历史。

1527年,他在一场骚乱中失去了下半截左臂。1810年,人们用蜡将整座雕像保护了起来。但到了1843年,在用盐酸去蜡时雕塑原来的光泽受到了一些破坏。

1991年,一位发了疯的意大利艺术家用锤子砸碎了大卫的一个脚趾。

(中国日报网站译)

   
Vocabulary:
 

drool: to be envious, desirous, eager for, or extremely happy about something(垂涎三尺,过分表示高兴)

symposium: a meeting or conference for the public discussion of some topic especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations(讨论会,座谈会)

 
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