Pieta Depicts the Virgin Mary

¶ … Pieta depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the body of her son after his crucifixion (Pieta pp). The Pieta has been created in numerous forms by various painters and sculptors, however, of all the great art produced, Michelangelo's is the most famous (Pieta pp). Michelangelo was only in his early twenties and a relative unknown artist when he was commissioned in 1498 to do a life-size sculpture of the Virgin Mary and her son that was to be unveiled in St. Peter's Basilica for the Jubilee of 1500 (Pieta pp).

The one the world sees today is the first of four that Michelangelo created, yet the only one he completely finished (Pieta pp). The Pieta was commissioned by the French cardinal De Billheres, a representative in Rome, and was most likely meant to be made for the cardinal's funeral monument, for before it was moved in St. Peter's Basilica during the eighteenth century, it was situated in the S. Petronilla's church where the cardinal is still buried (Michelangelo pp).

Probably, the statue was meant to be made for the cardinal's funeral monument, because, before it was moved in St. Peter's Basilica in the 18th century, it was situated in the S. Petronilla's church, where the cardinal is still buried. It took Michelangelo less than two years to carve from one slab of marble one of the most magnificent sculptures ever created (Pieta pp).

What sets his interpretation of the Pieta from previous artists is that he created a young, serene and celestial Virgin Mary, rather than one who is older and broken hearted (Pieta pp). When it was unveiled, Michelangelo was content and proud until he heard a group of people attributing his work to other artists, causing him to add his name down the sash of the Virgin Mary (Pieta pp).

It is said that he later regretted that he allowed his emotions to get the better of him and vowed to never sign another work (Pieta pp) Michelangelo's Pieta is a work of exceptional beauty and harmony, and depicts the Renaissance idea of classic norm and measure (Michelangelo pp). The sculpture's structure is pyramidal with the vertex coinciding with the Madonna's head, then widening progressively down to the base that falls the drapery (Michelangelo pp).

Due to the difficulty of showing a life-size grown man laying full-length in a female's lap, the figures are actually out of proportion (Michelangelo pp). If her son was to be human scale, then the standing Virgin would be approximately five meters tall (Michelangelo pp). This may well have been intentional, because since the statue was moved from its original location, no one knows in what position it was before (Michelangelo pp).

The artist might have intentionally deformed it if it was to be housed in a high place in order to balance human sight aberration, yet much of the Madonna's size is concealed in the drapery, thus, the figures look quite natural (Michelangelo pp). Michelangelo limited the marks of the crucifixion to very small nail marks and an indication of the wound in Jesus' side and the imprints of the nails in the feet do not penetrate to the underside of the foot (Michelangelo pp).

Some say that the youthful appearance of the Virgin symbolized purity, which others attribute it to Michelangelo's passion for Dante's Divine Comedy, where in the third cantica, Paradise, in a prayer for the Virgin Mary, St. Bernard says, "Virgin mother, daughter of your son," since Christ is one of the three figures of the Trinity, then Mary should be daughter, like other humans, but also mother (Michelangelo pp). Thus, the reason why Michelangelo choice in depicting the Madonna in a youthful state (Michelangelo pp).

Michelangelo is the most representative artist of the sixteenth century (Olga pp). He was a sculptor, painter, poet, and architect, and because he lived to such a great age, he was able to enjoy great fame and notoriety.