“Pietà”
For today, we have one of the most important sculptures from the Italian Renaissance.
“Pietà” is a gorgeous marble sculpture by the Italian Renaissance artist and master, Michelangelo. It was made between 1498 and 1499. It is often seen as the beginning of the High Renaissance period that brought such masterpieces as “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci, and “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.
In this sculpture, Michelangelo masterfully depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of her newly deceased son, Jesus Christ. He was just removed from the cross, with the nail wounds on his hand, and the wound on his side still visible. Mary is seated, wearing a heavily draped robe, with her son laying across her lap. She appears larger than Jesus, with the exception of her head, which is finely carved.
To create balance, Michelangelo carved this piece into a pyramidal shape with Mary’s head serving as the apex. Mary appears young, almost younger than Jesus. This is often ascribed to the Holy Trinity. Mary was his mother, but also his daughter, as he was the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a tall sculpture, at 174 cm, or 5’ 8”. It contains all the ideals of the High Renaissance reflected through classical beauty, form, composition, stability, and naturalism.
“Pietà” was a common theme in the Renaissance, though it was popularized earlier in Germany during the fourteenth century, and then to France in the fifteenth century. The word itself translates into “pity”. Mary is a mother, and the sad look on her beautiful face resonated with viewers who appreciated the lofty sacrifice of her son. Many versions of this image have been made over the centuries, in both paint and sculpture form. Artists who have created their own versions include Pietro Perugino, Giovanni Bellini, Bronzino, El Greco, Annibale Carracci, Gregorio Fernández, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Anton Josef Reiss, as well as others both named and unnamed.
This statue is made with Carrara marble, prized for its strength and light color. Michelangelo mined the marble himself from Tuscany and chiseled this statue from a single piece of stone. It was highly polished before its completion and is regarded as one of his most complete works.
“Pietà” was commissioned by the French Ambassador to Rome, Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, who also served as a Cardinal, to be used as his funeral monument. In the eighteenth century, it was moved from Lagraulas’s mausoleum within the Chapel of Saint Petronilla, also in the Vatican City but now destroyed, to its current location in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
In 2019, a small version of this statue was discovered. It was made from terra cotta clay. Art historians believe that it may have served as Michelangelo’s study for the final piece.
This masterpiece was created before Michelangelo turned 30 years old and is the only piece of art he ever signed. His signature is written across the sash on Mary’s chest. It reads “MICHÆLANGELVS BONAROTVS FLORENTINVS FACIEB”, which means, “Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Florentine made this”. It is said that he had added his name after people assumed it was made by another artist. However, he regretted adding his signature, and vowed never to sign another art piece again.
In May of 1972, the statue was famously vandalized by a man suffering from mental issues. Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian-Austrian geologist, attacked the statue with a hammer. As he attacked it, he yelled, “I am Jesus Christ; I have risen from the dead!”. The attack broke off Mary’s left arm at the elbow, broke off her nose, and chipped a piece of her left eye. The statue was carefully restored, using marble pieces from her back. Today, it is protected by bulletproof glass which encapsulates the sculpture.
“Pietà” is currently on display at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
For more on Michelangelo, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
