Who commissioned Donatello to create the bronze statue David for the court of the Palazzo Medici ?
Donatello 's bronze " David , " made for the Medici family , perhaps 1440 , had been appropriated by the Signoria in 1494 , when the Medici were exiled from Florence , and the statue was installed in the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria , where it stood for the Republican government of the city .