1499_Pieta_Michelangelo.txt

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Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475 – 1564
Pietà

marble (174 × 195 cm) — 1499
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Pietà is Italian for pity, as in "have pity with me". In the arts the word is used to reference images of Mary with her deceased son. The Bible does not mention such a moment.

The composition shows the master's skill. As with his David, the figures are out of proportion: necessary, as it would otherwise be impossible to achieve the desired pyramidal structure.

The right hand supports the dead body, while the left hand seems to call for compassion. Against tradition, Mary is shown as a young woman. Michelangelo is said to have explained that choice as a consequence of her virginity, which would have kept her youthfull.

This Pietà was made for St. Peter's Basilica, in Rome, where it still is on display. It is probably Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, maybe only matched by his David in Florence. It is the only work he ever signed.

Michelangelo Buonarroti biography

Michelangelo Buonarroti

1475 - 1564

Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect and poet. Generally considered one of the greatest artists ever. He worked in Florence and Rome.

Michelangelo receives his formal education from the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni. In Florence Michelangelo becomes acquainted with Classical antiquity, which will have enormous influence on his work. Via Lorenzo de' Medici Michelangelo meets some of the greatest scientists of his days.

In 1496 Michelangelo moves to Rome. One of his first major assignments is for the well-known Pietà in St. Peter's basilica. Back in Florence Michelangelo creates another masterpiece: David (1501-1504), now on display in the Academia.

Pope Julius II commissions the decoration of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel (1508-12). The frescoes depict prophets, sibyls and scenes from Genesis. It shows Michelangelo's preference for strong, muscular figures. For four years he paints the ceiling, lying on his back most of the time. He does not paint again until 1536, when he starts the Last Judgment, on the back wall of the Sistine Chapel, finishing the work in 1541.

Michelangelo dies in Rome in 1564. He is buried in Florence.