As described in the first book of Samuel, Verse 17 of the Bible, David was a young man who, using only a slingshot and five rocks struck down the giant Goliath and saved his people. David has been a symbolic figure in art throughout history. Two men who lived nearly a hundred years apart both sculptured the famous biblical figure of David through the lens of his own times but they were both influenced by many of the same things. Michelangelo showed David as a symbol of courage in the face of the enemy while Donatello depicted David as a symbol what can be accomplished by even the smallest entity. His character and story have been interpreted and re-interpreted by many artists in different mediums. Donatello was was born in Florence in 1386. He was an early Renaissance artist who lived at the end of the Dark Ages. He is known as the artist whose work officially began the Italian Renaissance (“David”). Donatello was first introduced to Roman sculpture when he visited Rome with his master, Brunelleschi (“Donatello”). It was there that he carefully studied classical Roman sculptures. The studies he preformed in Rome greatly influenced him the rest of his life. He is known for making the first sculptures with classical influence after the Dark Ages. The influence of his Roman studies is shown in the natural flow of the statue, something which is not seen in any art of the Dark Ages. Michelangelo was born to a middle class banking family on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy. When he was still a young man, his mother become deathly ill and was sent to live with stone cutters where he later stated, “"With my wet-nurse's milk, I sucked in the hammer and chisels I use for my statues." (“Michelangelo”). He was a famous late Renaissance sculptor and painter. He originally was apprenticed to a painter but soon found himself studying sculpture in the famous Medici gardens