Michelangelo's Pietas

Term Paper # 115127

Art > Sculpture

An exploration of Michelangelo's three Pietas and how they give insight to the great Michelangelo himself.

2,232 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The pieta is the scene, shown in Christian art, where the Virgin Mary holds the life-less body of her son, Jesus after he had been crucified. This paper examines how Michelangelo made a great candidate for sculpting Pietas, because of his ability to portray the true human form, as well as his talent with pathos. The paper reviews and compares Michelangelo's Rome Pieta, Florentine Pieta and his Rondanini Pieta. The paper also includes photographs.

Outline:
Introduction
Rome Pieta
Florentine Pieta
Rondanini Pieta

From the Paper:

"The biggest question regarding the Florentine Pieta is what happened to the left leg of Christ. Michelangelo did not break off the leg in his frustration, but rather the frustration was caused because of a defect in the marble block that made it impossible to create the left leg without adding a separate piece of marble. At that time, connecting different pieces of marble was frowned upon because it was "not worthy of a true artist." (Wilde 184). Evidence for this is the curved socket carved in the left thigh that shows where the leg was planned to be. Perhaps, Michelangelo made preparation for the new piece of marble, but being a man who "had an almost metaphysical conception of the significance of the unviolated block" (Wilde 184), he was unable to bring himself to it, and in the heat of the moment, attacked his creation. Though, it is also believed that Michelangelo had in fact created the knee of Christ, and that it either broke from the backlash of his hammer or that it was taken off by Calcagni because the marble was too defective to create the rest of the leg."

Sample of Sources Used:

Michelangelo's Apollo and Pathos: The Human Form. Dir. Rumy Hilloowala. Videocassette. West Virginia University and Ohio University, 1999.
Wallace, William E.. "Michelangelo's Rome Pieta: Altarpiece or Grave Memorial?". Michelangelo: Selected Scholarship in English. Edited. William E. Wallace. New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc., 1995.
Wilde, Johannes. Michelangelo. Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the Artists (Volume 1). England: Penguin Books, 1987.