Michelangelo’s 'David' (1501–1504) is one of the most famous sculptures in history, but its scale is often surprising to those who see it in person. It stands 17 feet tall, carved from a single block of Carrara marble that two other sculptors had already started and abandoned because they found the stone too difficult to work with. Michelangelo depicted David *before* his battle with Goliath, showing a moment of intense mental concentration rather than the victory itself. To account for the fact that the statue was originally intended to be placed high up on a cathedral roofline, Michelangelo intentionally made David's head and right hand slightly larger than proportional—a technique called 'optical correction' so that the features would look correct from a low viewing angle. The statue became a symbol of the Republic of Florence's strength against more powerful enemies.