David rises white above a block of rock, the sling slung across his shoulder and the weight carried on the right leg. A ladder with a coil of rope leans against the stone on the left. The sculptor kneels below in an ochre jacket and blue breeches, chisel in his raised right hand and mallet in the left, head tilted back towards the figure. Tools lie across the base beside an open book showing a drawing of the same pose, and a sketch is pinned to the rock face.