In the spring of 2001, conservation scientists initiated a meticulous study the surface of one of the great treasures of Renaissance Florence, Andrea del Verrocchio's David. A year later, they began to clean and restore the 535-year-old sculpture. Using state-of-the-art laser technology to remove the later patinations that made the work dark, they revealed the bronze and gold-leaf statue that Verrocchio created. At the same time, scholars used the occasion to consider the history of the David and discuss its meaning in the art and life of fifteenth-century Florence and after. This book records the project. In the fall of 2003, the restored sculpture traveled to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.