Agostino’s Giant

-=< O >=-

Your Name
is

Agostino
di Duccio

-=< O >=-

The Year

1464

-=< O >=-

You have been
chosen by the

Wool
Guild

for an
Important
Mission

!!!

-=< O >=-

Here’s
The Plan
:
You will travel up into
the mountains at Carrara,
to the best marble quarry
.
There,
you will select
a massive block
of purest white
.
You
will bring it
down the mountain,
and carry it into the city,
where you will carve
the largest sculpture
ever commissioned
by the church
.
If
you are
successful, your
magnificent statue
will stand high
on the edge
of a great
cathedral;

The Duomo

at
Florence,
Italy

You
will
be a
hero
of church
and country
!!!

Your name
forever
known

!!!

Rising
to the
challenge,

You collect
your tools and
mount an expedition
to score the biggest
and most beautiful
block of marble
ever seen.

(while trying to
ignore the doubts
ringing in your ears,
reminding you that
nothing on this scale
has been attempted
in your lifetime)

Are You In
Over Your
Head
?

Nevertheless,
you and your party
venture up into the
hills toward Carrara
with enthusiasm.

-=< O >=-

The best marble
for statues is found
near the the top of
the mountain
.
For
a project
of this scale,
you must find
the best of
the best
.
Smaller sizes
of flawless
white
stone
are easy,
but large blocks,
consistently pure,
become increasingly
difficult to find
.
The quality you want,
in the size you have in mind,
will be nearly impossible
.
In fact,
the mountain
hasn’t revealed
such a perfect
piece
.

Resisting
the discouragement
you select a mighty stone,
the best that Carrara
has to offer
.

It has
small holes
in a few spots,
and tiny veins that
discolor some areas,
but you can work
with it!

-=< O >=-

Knowing how
difficult it will be
to transport such a
large block down
the mountain
and then to
its destination
over 80 miles away,
you begin chopping
off the excess
.
You carve away
the rough spots and
the imperfections,
trimming it
down to
what is
essential
for the form
you have in mind
.
After hacking away
everything that is not
essential, you still have
a chunk of marble that
is over eighteen feet
long, weighing
25,000 pounds
!

No one
can remember
ever moving such
a massive stone
!!!

Lowering the beast
down the mountain
is quite challenging
.
Teams of men
and oxen
over

Two
Long
Months

straining
and pulling,
easing it down
to the quarry floor
whole and intact
.
Then begins
the journey
to Florence
.
Two
Brutal
Years

Exhaustion
gives way to
Jubilation
as your
conquest is
pulled into
the city
.
People come
from all around
just to stare at it
.
A
huge
white block
of Carrara marble
dominating the courtyard
behind the cathedral.

You have done it!

-=< O >=-

but…

something
seems
amiss
…

Why
are the
City Leaders
frowning and
murmering

???

Rumors
are flying…

-=< O >=-

“The Stone is Flawed”

The experts are dismayed,
declaring that you have
Carved Away
Too Much

!!!

Yes,
it has
a few holes
.
Yes,
you made
the narrow piece
even narrower when
“roughing it out”
.
Yes,
it has its
imperfections
,
but
you are
still confident
!

You can see it
in your mind
…

(but)

The
leaders
have lost
confidence.

The city
has lost its
investment.

You are removed
from your position

!!!

The citizens
begin calling it

“The Giant”

-=< O >=-

People
still wander by
to gawk and leer
,
scaring birds
away from their
pooping perches
on
The Giant
.

Eleven years later,
a boy is born who
will grow up to
challenge
The Giant
.

Agostino’s Giant?

Maybe
it’s better
that your name
fades into obscurity

(even if
the giant stone
embarrassment
cannot)

A white giant,
abandoned in
a courtyard
.
There it sits
for over
thirty
years
.

People say that the
stone is now “cooked”
by the sun and
the weather
.
brittle
.
useless
.
.
.

-=< O >=-

35

years
later
(in 1501)
the city starts
discussing in earnest
What To Do About
The Giant.

Q:
“Shall we ask
Leonardo da Vinci
to make something from it?”

A:
“No, he is getting older
and has no passion for it.”

Q:
“What about the new guy?

A:
“Why not?
He did okay in Rome…”

The
whole town
comes out
to see the
excitement,
surrounding
the courtyard,
watching the
workers
stand
the
block
on end
…

A shed
is constructed
around the stone
.

The
young sculptor
can now work
in private
.

There he toils
for months and
months
…

Finally,
on a summer
day in 1503,
the shed
is torn
away
.

“And truly it
was a miracle
on the part of
Michelangelo
to restore to
life a thing
that was
dead.”

Giorgio Vasari

THIS
is the reward
for the city’s
investment

Michelangelo’s
sublime masterpiece:
A Statue of David

The genius
Michelangelo
has redeemed
the stone
!!!

David
has slain
Agostino’s Giant
!!!

-=< O >=-

David
Who?

The story of
David is told in
The Old Testament
book of 1 Samuel

In chapter 17,
a giant Philistine
soldier named
Goliath
challenges
the Israelites to
a one-on-one battle
.
King Saul
and all his soldiers
are terrified, but a
young shepherd
boy named
David
slays the giant
by slinging
a stone
into his
forehead
.
The death of Goliath
was the turning point
of the battle
.
This story
has traditionally
been interpreted as,
“God can use the smallest
and the weakest of us”,
but Michelangelo
has given David
a classically
perfect
physique
.
The
Conquering
Hero
!!!

-=< O >=-

This
story
started at a
marble quarry
.
Agostino was working
without power tools,
but this is what the
quarry at Carrera
looks like today
:

CREDIT:

I
was
inspired
to write
this long
skinny
story
after reading
an article in the
New York Times
Magazine by
Sam Anderson
“David’s Ankles:
How Imperfections
Could Bring Down the
World’s Most Perfect Statue”
(August 7, 2016)

There’s an
audio version, too.
Here’s a link to it: