Italy - Florence Day 3

David

During the summer of 2003 when I was into sketching and painting, I had the chance to sketch the statue of "David" by Michelangelo.

Today I had the chance to see the real thing. Below is just a short reflection that I wrote after seeing the statue.

Reflection of the second habit of The Seven Habits by Steven Covey.

I had the privilege to see the masterpiece "David" by Michelangelo in Florence, Italy in the Museum Academia. I had to wait two and half hours just to get into the museum. However, seeing the real statue was worth every single second of the wait.

Looking at the real statue of "David", one can only feel a sense of perfection, and admiration of Michelangelo for his brilliance and his talent. However, after learning how the statue was made, I felt that it was perhaps his method of attacking the problem which helped the result. I believe that Michelangelo possessed a special habit. It is this habit which helped him. Steven Covey described this habit as the second out of seven habits of effective people : The habit of beginning with the end in mind.

What is the second habit? Covey claims that for every thing that human creates there are really two creations. The first one is a creation in the mind, the second one is the physical creation. He argues that this is how effective people carry out tasks. First they create an idea in their mind, then mentally work with the idea until a final product can be visualized or throughly defined. The next step is the physical creation, the "Mise-en-forme" of the idea, the implementation.

How can you link the creator of the statue with this habit? Most statue I've seen are composed from different body parts or are made up from several sections of stones. "David" is one single solid piece. Michelangelo approached the project from a outside-in point of view, which means he started carving the stone with the end product in his mind. Before the first bit of marble was chipped off, he already articulated the proportion and the posture of the statue. He then started the project knowing exactly how to work with the rectangular stone, making little or perhaps no modification to his original plan. Of course, this is not only the reason why David looks so real. It was also because of Michelangelo's mastery of sculpturing techniques.

What can one benefit from practicing this habit? Well, perhaps not creating a statue that matches the realism of "David" but it definitely is a great way to tackle a project. By defining the concrete results that one would want to achieve, one has a set of definite goals to work towards. This certainly will make the efforts more effective.