The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Christopher Gardner

Restored: Michelangelo's masterpiece 'David' has returned to the Avenue in all his former glory.

'David' makes triumphant return to Lincoln Avenue

And now he's in one piece again

By Christine M. Lias

When Michelangelo's David was completed in 1504, the people of Florence were so moved by its beauty and perfection that they placed it in the square next to city hall.

Completely nude and more than 13 feet tall, the marble statue stared at Florentine citizens with an emotional intensity unequaled by any work of art before or since, according to art history texts.

Here in Willow Glen, nearing the end of the millennium, it's a different story altogether.

For years, Victorian House Antiques on Lincoln Avenue displayed its own David for the Willow Glen community and passersby. Standing less than 6 feet tall outside the store, David greeted Lincoln Avenue with a gaze similar to that of the original masterpiece. Last August, however, vandals removed David's penis, leaving only a Band-Aid to cover the scar.

Any other local vandalism case might not attract much attention. But what started out as a prank grew into a major media event. Metro and the Mercury News came to call, as did KRON-TV, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and even the National Enquirer.

Although neither the perpetrators nor the stolen object was ever found, shop owner Patrick Mormon's David statue is again whole.

Passersby along Lincoln Avenue can feast their eyes on the imitation Italian masterpiece--in one piece. Thanks to the work of an artist hired by Mormon to research and recreate the maimed male anatomy, David now stands in all his former glory.

Mormon, meanwhile, is on his guard against possible future attacks and says he has installed a surveillance camera above the statue that cost "quite a bit of money." (He declined to specify the exact amount.)

"It's sad that people can be so ignorant and so sick," Mormon said about the mysterious vandals.

"This is a fabulous piece of art, A-R-T," Mormon said. "There have been nude statues displayed for hundreds of years."

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