St David's Day Lecture
Two Renaissance Giants
With Nick Nelson
On Saturday 1st March 2025, the Society enjoyed an original and interesting talk by Nick Nelson. The evening was enhanced by delicious canapes and wine served prior to the talk, and at the end, delicious, light mini welsh cakes.
Nick contrasted the two David renaissance sculptures, both held in Florence. Donatello’s elegant bronze, created in 1440, with Michelangelo’s assigned in 1501, a marble figure three times the size of Donatello’s. Both sculptures focus on the biblical narrative from 1 Samuel 17 in the Old Testament, yet allegorically David became a symbol of fortitude for the Florentines in a secular sense. Nick took us through the intricasies and intrigues of the stories behind the two statues.
Donatello’s early Renaissance David (now in the Bargello Museum) conceived in bronze was the first fully nude figure since antiquity. It was commissioned by that great patron of the arts Cosimo de Medici to adorn the garden of the Palazzo Medici in Florence. Among many other readings, David posing after the conquest could be seen as a symbol of Medici power; an object that reaffirms Cosimo’s social and political authority as de facto ruler of Florence. David is also a powerful symbol for the city and Republic of Florence - of the victorious underdog versus the greater adversary, Milan.
In 1504 Michelangelo’s masterpiece was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, only to be moved to the Accademia in 1873 and replaced with a replica. Michelangelo’s colossus, standing at 17 feet tall and posing before combat, became a symbol of defiance against the Medici who had been expelled from the city in 1494. In fact, his stony gaze is pointedly directed towards Rome during the family’s temporary exile there from Florence during Savonarola’s ephemeral spell as virtual ruler of Florence (1494–5).
Nick Nelson
Brief Biography
Nick is currently Head of History of Art at Cheltenham College, where he has also taught Art and Design, Architecture, Music, English, Classical Civilisation, Theology, Philosophy and Ethics. Prior to this, Nick studied History of Art and Architecture at The University of East Anglia, took a PGCE in Art & Design at The University of Reading, and completed his Masters in The History of Art at The University of Buckingham. The spot focus for his Masters was on ‘Synaesthesia, Harmony and Discord in the work of Wassily Kandinsky and Arnold Schoenberg 1909-14.’
Nick established Arcadia Education with his wife Katie in 2014 for teaching, tutoring and touring with History of Art. Since such time he has lectured around the world for the Soho House Group, and in the UK for the Arts Society, and, formerly, NADFAS. Nick has run several courses in Art History at Barnsley House, Marlborough College Summer School and The Ellenborough Park Hotel. He lectures on a wide array of topics, from the Renaissance to Modernism.
Header Image - Ponte alle Grazie e Loggia degli Uffizi - Fabio Borbottoni (1820–1902)