The Pietà by Michelangelo, | A Study of Redemption Through Suffering

The Pietà Michelangelo Buonarroti 1499, marble, height 174 cm, width at the base 195 cm Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican

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The youthful Virgin and the body of Christ which she supports on her lap are convincingly modelled by Michelangelo in The Pieta, known to have had a strong interest in anatomy. The Pieta by Michelangelo, a work of the High Renaissance, was criticized by his detractors who thought the Virgin appeared too young.

Neither does Michelangelo depict Christ in the manner which one might expect of one recently crucified in The Pieta, but relatively unscathed by the ordeal of his traumatic manner of death. The Pieta by Michelangelo shows a Virgin, whose calm, serene dignity in life is echoed by the same qualities in the face of Christ, intended to elicit empathy from the viewer.

The Pieta by Michelangelo is signed by the artist on a sash across the chest of the Virgin. Michelangelo is reported to have overheard a discussion by Vatican visitors crediting The Pieta to the hand of another artist. After dark, he secretly entered the Vatican and carved his signature into the Virgin's sash with the words: "Angelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat" or "This was made by Florentine Michelangelo Buonarroti."

Brenda Harness, Art Historian