How did Giorgio Vasari save Michelangelo's David?

Answer 1

Michelangelo was raised in the de' Medici household, virtually adopted by Lorenzo de' Medici (aka Lorenzo the Magnificant), and raised alongside his own sons, Giovanni and Guilio. Both Giovanni and Guilio entered the church (as a cardinal and a priest, respectively). Both would later become Popes (Leo X and Clement VII).

The de' Medici family had a love-hate relationship with Florence, sometimes banished, sometimes hunted and sometimes worshiped. Michelangelo's David was in fact made by Michelangelo to depict Florence as David to the Goliath of the de' Medici family.

The hand was shattered into seven pieces when a bench was thrown out a window during a riot in 1527 which resulted in the de' Medicis once again being expelled from the city.

This is generally considered somewhat ironic, as the statue, originally crafted as a protest against the de' Medici's, was damaged in another protest against the de' Medici family.

None other than Vasari came to David's rescue, gathering the scattered pieces and placing them in safe keeping for later repair. Vasari had studied with Michelangelo, and he kept the pieces hidden until the de' Medicis were safely returned to power in Florence. He struck up an alliance with the new Duke, Cosimo de' Medici.

Michelangelo, for his part, refused to accept Cosimo's control over Florence. He remained in Rome until his death in 1564. The Florentine government stole his body and removed it from Rome. They held a huge service in his honour, in spite of thirty years of enmity with Florence and the de' Medici family.

Vasari went on to write the world's first work of art history, which glorified the de' Medici family's role in the rebirth of Art. It was dedicated to Cosimo, and was the first to use the term Renaissance to refer to this period.