Why is the willy on Michelangelo's famous statue of David so... tiny?
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F. Lennox Campello is a widely published Washington, DC and Philadelphia based art critic, as well as an award winning artist and curator. He is also often heard on NPR and the Voice of America discussing visual art issues. …
The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
Fictional depiction of Michelangelo. Includes bibliography, glossary and a list of the artist's works.
Article comments
1 - anish
Probably Michaelangelo sculpted his own...
2 - BOB
ITS A NORMAL SIZED PENIS
3 - Mephisto
then ur penis is rather small
4 - kot
imagine that you are a homosexual guy. your vision of perfect male body wouldn't rather include big penis unless you are a masochist too.
5 - Dr Dreadful
The penis is normal-sized.
Unfortunately, the statue is 17 feet tall...
6 - Ruvy
Goliath (a cousin of David) was supposed to be 17 feet tall. Who was this guy sculpting anyhow?!
7 - Dr Dreadful
Goliath was David's cousin?? I didn't know that.
Anyway, apparently there was this big lump of marble lying around a quarry that someone had started sculpting a statue out of and then abandoned. Since it was a really nice lump of marble, they weren't about to let it go to waste, so they put out tenders for an artist to make something out of it and Michelangelo got the commission.
The head, shoulders, arms and upper torso are larger than they would be if David had been sculpted in true proportion. It's thought that Mike intended for him to be displayed on top of a wall some way above eye level, so that to the viewer beneath he would appear to be proportionate. That also probably explains the teeny todger.
8 - garry
in that time large penis was conidered grotesque, and ugly.
9 - willow
It is normal size- for Italians, not for Africans.
10 - Scott
It is not normal sized for any race. That is extremely small in proportion to his body. It would be the equivalent of an averaged sized person having a 1 inch penis. All of you people who say that is an average sized wee-wee... I'm guessing you say that because yours is the same size. I hate to break it to you, but that is not average by any means. Don't feel bad, there's always surgery! :D
11 - Tyler
I know why is everybody saying this is average size? Maybe to yours, yeah but not 95% of the rest of men.
12 - STM
What worries me is that so many people are commenting on the knob size (or lack thereof) of a sculpture. I'm sure Italians would be rather miffed too if they thought David was representative of "average" knob size.
Having said all that, all the conjecture over the years is that David was a) a boy, and b) Michelangelo didn't want to offend anyone with a small knob by making David's any bigger.
The real issue, though, is why it's such an issue. The real factor, as well know, is the so-called "stretch" factor".
13 - Cindy
Size shmize. Most men could use a lesson or two about what to do with it. The size of the statue is adequate. And if he knows what he's doing, hypothetically, he'd be better than most. It's not for sword fighting after all.
P.S. Italian men (from Italy not the US, it's not in the blood after all) seem to know better than most American men I've encountered. Maybe they were spurred on to be their very best by having that statue to contend with.
14 - roger nowosielski
Hi, Cindy,
Just got the message. Respond.
15 - Cindy
My comment was pretty insensitive. Okay, so most women probably don't know much more about their own sexuality than most men do. The thing to do is go out and learn. There's plenty to find out. :-)
(good luck)
16 - roger nowosielski
Why should you worry about a man's ego? It's their greatest weakness.
17 - Dr Dreadful
Aesthetics?
Perhaps having a vestigial virgin-vandaliser was desirable in Renaissance Italy.
18 - art history major
He's a grower not a shower!
19 - Frankenbeans
Yeah, so the shaft sits on the sac. that is not normal for non-arctic temperature.
Might this be a hold over from Greek pederasty?
20 - Jason
The penis is small because it follows classical standards. The Greeks found the glans to be obscene, so the foreskin is always covering it. And for whatever reason, they found smaller genitals to be more pleasing (to keep from distracting from the rest of the statue, maybe). So you get these small baby penises on grown men, and gigantic horse-phalluses (with foreskins unretracted, no less) on satyrs and other comic figures.