David is perhaps the most famous character in the Old Testament. Everyone knows at least part of his story. So it’s not unusual that David would be one of the early statues commissioned for the Duomo’s set of twelve. It is also not hard to imagine that Michelangelo would be drawn to the shepherd-king. David’s story and the complexity of his character as both an adulterer and a man after God’s own heart aligned, at least in some ways, with Michelangelo’s struggle between sensuality and devotion to the Lord.
