Which sculptor created the 'David' marble statue in Florence?

The sculptor who created the marble “David” in Florence was Michelangelo. He carved the colossal Renaissance statue from 1501 to 1504, transforming a neglected block of Carrara marble into one of the most recognizable sculptures in Western art.

The biblical hero David is shown before his battle with Goliath, alert and intensely focused rather than celebrating after victory. Michelangelo’s treatment emphasizes idealized anatomy, psychological tension, and monumental scale. The statue stands 5.17 metres tall, making it far larger than a normal human figure.

The marble had already been roughly worked by Agostino di Duccio and was later abandoned after Antonio Rossellino’s involvement ended. Michelangelo received the commission at age 26. Although the statue was originally intended for the roofline of Florence Cathedral, its weight and scale led officials to place it outside the Palazzo della Signoria in 1504, where it became a symbol of Florentine civic independence.

The original was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia in 1873. Donatello also created important statues of David, which can cause confusion, but Michelangelo’s colossal marble version is the famous Florentine “David” named in this question.