Pieta

1. Michelangelo lived and worked in Rome from 1496-1501. In 1497, he was commissioned by Cardinal Jean de Billheres to create a sculpture to go inside the side chapel of Old St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

2. Pieta was so successful that it launched Michelangelo’s career more than any other work that he had done up to that point.

3. Michelangelo used Carrara Marble to complete this work and continued to polish and refine the sculpture more than any other work or statue.

4. The scene of Pieta is when the Virgin Mary held the dead body of her son Jesus after his crucifixion, death and removal from the cross before being placed in his tomb. This is a key moment from the life of Mary and is one of the seven moments often described as the Seven Sorrows of Mary which formed the basis of a number of Catholic ‘devotional’ prayers.

5. This was a special piece of artwork during the ‘Renaissance Period’ because having multiple characters in one sculpture was incredibly rare. The work also appears to take the form of a pyramid shape which was a favourite technique for many Renaissance sculptors.

6. When looking closely at the features of the characters in the scene, they are not completely in proportion. This is because the Virgin Mary is displayed with a larger body than her son. This means she is able to hold him comfortably in her arms and makes the whole sculpture more realistic and natural looking.

7. Although we realise that Mary is utterly devastated by the tragic events and horrific death of her only child, Mary appears graceful and accepting of the events through her facial expression.

8. Just as Mary appears graceful and accepting of what has happened, Jesus has been depicted as though he is sleeping peacefully – his lifeless body doesn’t reflect the horrific torture and suffering that he has gone through.

9. When Mary holds Jesus in this sculpture, you can see that her hands do not touch his body at all – she has her hands on the cloth that he is wrapped in. This recognises the belief that the body is sacred.

10. Both figures are shown to be perfect even through their horrific suffering. This was because during the Renaissance period, people believed that human beauty was the reflection of God’s beauty and so they possess ‘divine beauty’.

11. Following the completion of Pieta, Michelangelo was criticised because he had depicted Mary as being very young. People felt that she was too young to bear a thirty-three year old son. Michelangelo responded by saying that he depicted her that way because she was a virgin and argued that women who are chaste keep their beauty for longer.