He carved the “David” from a discarded block of marble

When it came to selecting the perfect marble for his masterpieces, Michelangelo was known to be highly fastidious. The marble slab he eventually chose for David had been quarried and abandoned for over 40 years by a number of previous artists who had given up on the project. In the two years that followed, Michelangelo sculpted the figure of David from that deformed block of marble, a process widely summed up by artist and writer Giorgio Vasari as the “bringing back to life of one who was dead”.

Numerous artists from throughout the world believe the 17-foot-tall sculpture is architecturally perfect. Because it was too heavy to set on the cathedral's roof-line, a group of artists and consultants ultimately opted to place the monument near the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. However, the monument is currently housed in the Florence art museum Academia, and a replica stands in its place in the square. Michelangelo's David is one of the most recognized works of art in the world and his finest masterpiece.