Shaping

A massive block of white marble, twenty feet long from an old Roman quarry, was transported by oxen-drawn carts to the Mediterranean Sea, then carried on barges pulled by oxen up the Arno River to Florence, Italy. On the morning of September 13, 1501, Michelangelo began his work. Almost four years later, on June 8, 1504, it was completed. From that solid rock, Michelangelo envisioned and chiseled a masterpiece, the statue of David, that still stands in Florence today.