Michelangelo’s Pieta displays spiritual suffering
Image: http://pwlawrence.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Michelangelos_Pieta_5450_cropncleaned.jpg.
Info: 1498-1499, marble, 68.5” by 76.8”, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
Explanation: This sculpture is notable for two reasons. One, it’s probably the world’s most famous religious sculpture. Two, it’s the only piece that Michelangelo only signed.
The Pieta sculpture was commissioned for the funeral monument of French cardinal Jean de Billheres, a representative in Rome.
Michelangelo adapted the typical Pieta scene – other artists usually depicted Mary to look desperately sad as she held the dead Christ in her life. However, Michelangelo decided to create Mary’s face as one of soft serenity. Her faith in religion overcomes her emotional turmoil – although she is intensely sad, Mary is sweet and noble. She has accepted her son’s fate, but that does not stop her from cradling his body in her lap.
Mechanically, this sculpture is intricate. The folds and wrinkles in Mary’s robes are accurately modeled; they frame her face and neck delicately. The way Michelangelo made Mary’s headdress casts shadows on her neck. Mary’s eyes are cast downward. Her skin is smooth; the stone looks like flesh.
Christ’s body is sprawled in her lap. In death, her child is suddenly so much larger than she. The body’s muscles are properly arranged and have started to sink; the bones produce soft curves. Christ’s body has much weight, shown by the way Mary props him with her left hand under his arm. His foot dangles as an innocent gesture, perhaps intended to be a reference to how young he is.
Although Mary’s lap must be inconceivably large to hold Christ, Michelangelo has disguised it well. The draping of her robe combined with the diagonal of Christ’s body keeps the eye busy, but somehow does not detract from the extreme emotion that the piece conveys.
When this piece was first displayed, Michelangelo stood nearby and overheard people attributing it to different Renaissance artists. Enraged, Michelangelo carved, “MICHAEL. ANGELUS. BONAROTUS. FLORENT. FACIEBAT” (Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence Created This). Later, he admitted that he regretted that he caved to his emotions… and never signed his art again.
My opinion: I love Michelangelo, and this sculpture. I think it’s interesting how young he depicted the Virgin Mary because “Women who are pure in soul and body never grow old. I like to think, however, that he wanted to show the connection of just how young Mary was – and, by association, imply how unfair it was for her to experience such great grief at such an age. She was still innocent, as was her son.
This is my favorite Pieta. It’s now in St. Peter’s Basilica, which is my favorite basilica. Other Pietas make Christ look more like a corpse than a human. I think Michelangelo masterfully combined many aspects of the scene to create a wholly poignant sculpture. Mary looks so celestial, so above this world but simultaneously distressed. One would think that these two themes would conflict, but – once again – Michelangelo pulls it off flawlessly.
Sources: http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta.htm.
