Editing Pietà (Michelangelo)

{{short description|Sculpture by Michelangelo}}
{{About||the sculpture referred to as the "Florentine Pietà"|The Deposition (Michelangelo)|the one now in [[Milan]]|Rondanini Pietà|the general subject|Pietà}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file= Pieta de Michelangelo - Vaticano.jpg 
| alt=The statue features Mary holding Jesus's dead body
| image_upright=1
| title=Pietà<br>{{small|[Our Lady of] Pity}}
| artist=[[Michelangelo Buonarroti]]
| subject=[[Jesus]] and [[Mary, Mother of Jesus|Mary]]
| year=1498–1499
| type=Marble
| height_metric=174
| width_metric=195
| height_imperial=68.5
| width_imperial=76.8
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
| museum=[[Saint Peter's Basilica]], Vatican City
| coordinates={{WikidataCoord|display=inline}}
| mapframe=yes
| mapframe-caption=The location of the statue today<br>Click on the map to see marker.
| mapframe-zoom=13
| preceded_by=[[Bacchus (Michelangelo)]]
| followed_by=[[David (Michelangelo)]]
}}

The '''''Pietà''''' ('''''Madonna della Pietà''''' {{IPA|it|maˈdɔnna della pjeˈta|lang}}; "[Our Lady of] Pity"; 1498–1499) is a [[Carrara marble]] sculpture of Jesus and Mary at [[Golgotha|Mount Golgotha]] representing the "Sixth Sorrow" of the [[Virgin Mary]] by [[Michelangelo Buonarroti]], in [[Saint Peter's Basilica]], [[Vatican City]], for which it was made. It is a key work of [[Italian Renaissance sculpture]] and often taken as the start of the [[High Renaissance]].

The sculpture captures the moment when Jesus, taken down from the cross, is given to his mother Mary. Mary looks younger than Jesus; art historians believe Michelangelo was inspired by a passage in [[Dante Alighieri]]'s [[Divine Comedy]]: "O virgin mother, daughter of your Son [...] your merit so ennobled human nature that its divine Creator did not hesitate to become its creature" (''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]'', Canto XXXIII).<ref>Michelangelo, la Pietà, Skira, 1997, Antonio Paolucci</ref> Michelangelo's [[aesthetic interpretation]] of the ''Pietà'' is unprecedented in Italian sculpture<ref>{{cite web |title=Michelangelo's Pieta. The sculptural masterpiece of the 15th century. |url=https://www.romeandyou.org/en/michelangelos-pieta-the-sculptural-masterpiece-of-the-15th-century/ |website=www.romeandyou.org |date=3 April 2020 |access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> because it balances early forms of [[naturalism (art)|naturalism]] with the [[Renaissance]] ideals of [[classical beauty]].

The statue was originally commissioned by a French [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], [[Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas]], then [[List of French ambassadors to the Holy See|French ambassador in Rome]]. The sculpture was made, probably as an [[altarpiece]], for the cardinal's [[funeral chapel]] in [[Old St Peter's]].  When this was demolished it was preserved, and later took its current location, the first chapel on the north side after the entrance of the new basilica, in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/vatican-pieta/vatican-pieta-history|title=The History · The Vatican Pietà · Fordham Art History|website=michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu|access-date=2019-09-03}}</ref> It is the only piece Michelangelo ever [[Signature|signed]].<!-- To check. Don't think the sorce says this: It is also the only known sculpture created by a prominent name from the [[Renaissance era]] to be installed in St. Peter's Basilica that was accepted by the [[Chapter of St. Peter]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jurkowlaniec|first=Grażyna|date=2015|title=A Miracle of Art and Therefore a Miraculous Image. A Neglected Aspect of the Reception of Michelangelo's Vatican "Pietà"|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44082380|journal=Artibus et Historiae|volume=36|issue=72|pages=175–198| jstor=44082380 |issn=0391-9064}}</ref> -->

The statue was restored after the figure of Mary was vandalized on [[Pentecost Sunday]] of 1972 by [[Laszlo Toth]]; it was until recently protected by a bulletproof glass screen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Whatever happened to Laszlo Toth, the man who smashed Michelangelo's Pieta in 1972? {{!}} Notes and Queries {{!}} guardian.co.uk |url=https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2565,00.html |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Pietà - Hallwylska museet - 107520.tif|thumb|The venerated image with its original canonical crown from 14 August 1637 by the Pontifical decree of [[Pope Urban VIII]]. Photo circa, 24 May 1888.]]
The statue was originally commissioned by the former [[Bishop of Condom]], Cardinal [[Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas|Jean de Villiers du Lagraulas]]. The sculpture was intended to be an [[altarpiece]] for his [[funeral chapel]] within [[Old Saint Peter's Basilica]]. The chapel of Saint Petronilla was later demolished and the sculpture was later moved to its current location, the first chapel on the north side after the entrance of the new basilica, in the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The History · The Vatican Pietà · Fordham Art History |url=https://michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/vatican-pieta/vatican-pieta-history |access-date=2019-09-03 |website=michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu}}</ref> It is the only piece Michelangelo ever [[Signature|signed]].

The structure is [[pyramid]]al, and the [[Vertex (geometry)|vertex]] coincides with Mary's head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to the base, the rock of [[Golgotha]]. The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. Much of Mary's body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural. Michelangelo's interpretation of the ''Pietà'' was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than a naturally older woman (aged 45+) that should be commensurate with the natural age of her son, Jesus (aged 33).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.voxmundi.eu/vatican-pieta-by-michelangelo-buonarroti/|title=Everything you need to know about Michelangelo Buonarroti's Pietà|date=2017-04-14|website=Official tourist service for Saint Peter's Basilica|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-03|archive-date=2019-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903164329/https://www.voxmundi.eu/vatican-pieta-by-michelangelo-buonarroti/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The marks of the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Crucifixion]] are limited to very small nail marks and an indication of the wound in Jesus' side. Accordingly, Christ's face does not reveal signs of [[Passion (Christianity)|the Passion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.romaviva.com/vaticano-castel-santangelo/pieta-michelangelo_eng.htm|title=Pietà by Michelangelo St. Peter in Vatican Rome|website=RomaViva.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618160925/http://www.romaviva.com/vaticano-castel-santangelo/pieta-michelangelo_eng.htm|archive-date=18 June 2018|access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=September 2019}} According to another interpretation, when Michelangelo set out to create his ''Pietà'', he wanted to create a work he described as "the heart's image".<ref>{{Cite book|last=McNeese|first=Tim|title=Michelangelo: Painter, Sculptor, and Architect|url=https://archive.org/details/michelangelo00mcne|url-access=limited|year=2005|pages=[https://archive.org/details/michelangelo00mcne/page/n48 43]|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers | isbn=9780791086278 }}</ref>

Two drilled holes are located at the top head of the Virgin Mary, which once supported the bar holding two levitating angels, while another hole is located at the tophead of the Christ image.

==Age of Mary==
[[File:Scan the World - Pietà (Michelangelo).stl|alt=|thumb|3-dimensional model]]
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage = [[File:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450 cropncleaned.jpg|210px]] | video1 = [http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/michelangelo-pieta.html Michelangelo's ''Pietà''], [[Smarthistory]]}}

Mary is represented as being very young for the mother of an approximately 33-year-old son, which is not uncommon in depictions of the [[Passion of Christ]] at the time. Various explanations have been suggested for this. One is that her youth symbolizes her incorruptible purity, as Michelangelo himself said to his biographer, the compatriot and Roman sculptor [[Ascanio Condivi]]:

{{Blockquote|"Do you not know that chaste women stay fresh much more than those who are not chaste? How much more in the case of the Virgin, who had never experienced the least lascivious desire that might change her body?"<ref>{{cite book|last=Pope-Hennessy|first=John|title=An Introduction to Italian Sculpture: Italian High Renaissance and Baroque sculpture|year=1970|publisher=Phaidon|page=304|edition=3|author-link=John Pope-Hennessy}}</ref>}}

Another theory suggests that Michelangelo's treatment of the subject was influenced by his passion for [[Dante]]'s [[Divine Comedy]]: so well-acquainted was he with the work that when he went to [[Bologna]], he paid for hospitality by reciting verses from it. In ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]'' (Canto XXXIII of the poem), Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] in a prayer for the Virgin Mary, says: {{lang|it|"Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio"|i=no}} ("Virgin mother, daughter of your son"). 

==Canonical coronation==
[[Pope Urban VIII|Urban VIII]] granted the venerated Marian image a decree of [[canonical coronation]] via his [[Papal bull]] ''Domina Coronatum Est'' signed and notarized on 14 August 1637 and granted to its patronal donor, Lord Ascanio Sforza y Pallavicini and Canon priest of the Vatican chapter, Monsignor Ugo Ubaldini.

The levitating diadem was manufactured by the Italian artisan, Fantino Taglietti, who charged 564 [[Italian scudo]] coins at the time. The official rite of coronation was executed on 31 August 1637. The cherubic angels were added in 1713 by his descendant, later relocated to the Chapel of the Holy Choir within the basilica in 1749.<ref>Urbanus VIII, Papam. ''Domina coronatum est'', signed and notarized on 14 August 1637. [[Vatican Secret Archives]].</ref>

==After completion==
[[File:Vatikan, Petersdom, der Altar der unbefleckten Empfängnis.JPG|thumb|The grand pillars of the Chapel of the Holy Choir, where the two cherubic angels were relocated from the ''Pietà'' image in 1749. The Marian image was also pontifically crowned by [[Pius IX]] (1854) and [[Pius X]] (1904), respectively.]]
Following completion, the ''Pietà''{{'}}s first home was the Chapel of [[Saint Petronilla]], a circular Roman [[mausoleum]] attached to the south [[transept]] of Saint Peter's, with several sub-chapels radiating from the central space. The Cardinal chose one of these as his funerary chapel. While there is now no certainty, it is estimated that each of these niches measured about 4.5 metres wide by 2 metres deep. The [[chapel]] was later demolished by [[Donato Bramante]] during his rebuilding of the basilica.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/vatican-pieta/vatican-pieta-history|title=The History · The Vatican Pietà · Fordham Art History|website=michelangelo.ace.fordham.edu|access-date=2019-09-03}}</ref>

According to [[Giorgio Vasari]], shortly after the installation of his ''Pietà'', Michelangelo overheard someone remark (or asked visitors about the sculptor) that it was the work of another sculptor, [[Cristoforo Solari]], whereupon Michelangelo signed the sculpture.<ref>William E. Wallace, 1995 ''Life and Early Works (Michelangelo: Selected Scholarship in English)'' {{ISBN|0-8153-1823-5}} p. 233</ref> Michelangelo carved the words on the sash running across Mary's chest.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Majanlahti |first=Anthony |date=2023-03-30 |title=Michelangelo's Signature and the Myth of Genius |url=https://hyperallergic.com/781165/michelangelos-signature-and-the-myth-of-genius/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{lang|la|'''MICHÆLANGELVS BONAROTVS FLORENTINVS FACIEBAT'''}}<br> (English: "Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Florentine made this")

The signature echoes one used by the ancient Greek artists [[Apelles]] and [[Polykleitos]]. It was the only work he ever signed. Vasari also reports the anecdote that Michelangelo later regretted his outburst of pride and swore never to sign another work of his hands.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/02_february/05/divine_michelangelo_overview.shtml|title=The Divine Michelangelo – overview of Michelangelo's major artworks|website=BBC|access-date=2008-12-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Aileen June Wang |title=Michelangelo's Signature |journal=The Sixteenth Century Journal |volume=35 |issue = 2|pages=447–473 |year= 2004 |jstor = 20476944|doi=10.2307/20476944 |s2cid=188333712 }}</ref>

Fifty years later, Vasari declared the following regarding the Pietà:

{{Blockquote|"Never think, a rare sculptor or craftsman, to be able to add design or grace, nor with difficulty never being able to finesse, cleanliness and to pierce the marble as much with art, as Michelangelo did there, because you can see in it all the value and power of art." }}

==Other Michelangelo Pietàs==
Several decades later, Michelangelo returned twice to the subject of the [[Pietà]], but neither work was completed. The [[Florentine Pietà]] of c. 1547 – 1553 was apparently intended for his own tomb, but abandoned after several years work. It is often called a ''[[Deposition of Christ|Deposition]]'', representing a moment slightly earlier in the story. The [[Rondanini Pietà]] was begun in 1552, and still very unfinished at his death in 1564; he had been working on it six days before.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

==Restoration==
Subsequent to its carving the ''Pietà'' sustained much damage. Four fingers on Mary's left hand, broken during a move, were professionally restored in 1736 by the Roman sculptor Giuseppe Lirioni (1690–1746). Modern scholars today are divided as to whether the restorer took artistic liberties to make the hand gestures more "rhetorical".{{fact|date=November 2024}}

== 1964 World Fair ==
In 1964, the ''Pietà'' was lent by the Vatican to the [[1964 New York World's Fair|1964–1965 New York World's Fair]] to be installed in the Vatican pavilion. The former [[Archbishop of New York]], Cardinal [[Francis Spellman]] formally requested the statue from [[Pope John XXIII]], appointed Edward M. Kinney, Director of Purchasing and Shipping of Catholic Relief Services – USCC, to head up the Vatican Transport Teams.<ref>The Saga of a Statue, Edward M. Kinney, 1989</ref> The statue was shipped in a wooden crate {{convert|2.5|inch|cm}} thick with an {{convert|8|inch|cm|adj=on}} base, secured to the deck of the liner [[SS Cristoforo Colombo|''Cristoforo Colombo'']]; in case of an accident, the crate contained cushioning so thick that it would float in water, and had an [[emergency locator beacon]] as well as a marker [[buoy]] attached.<ref>{{cite news |date=1964-04-14 |title=Michelangelo's Pieta arrives in New York |periodical=Globe and Mail |location=Toronto |page=13}}</ref>

At the fair, people stood in line for hours to catch a glimpse from a [[conveyor belt]] moving past the sculpture. It was returned to the Vatican afterwards.<ref>{{cite web |title=1964 New York World's Fair 1965 – Attractions – Vatican |url=http://nywf64.com/vatican04.shtml |access-date=2014-05-18 |website=New York World's Fair 1964/1965 |page=4}}</ref>

It was returned to St. Peter's Basilica in November, 1965. During its replacement, the weight of the marble statue broke a metal ventilation cover in the floor, tilting the crate. Despite fears that this jostling might have damaged the statue, the ''Pietà'' was returned to its place unharmed. The New York Times article reporting on the statue's return stated: "By order of Pope Paul VI it will never travel again."<ref>{{Cite news |date=Nov 14, 1965 |title=The Pieta, After Hazards, Is in Place in St. Peter's |url=https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/articles/ny-times/11-14-65-pieta.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=May 1, 2025 |work=New York Times |pages=23}}</ref>

==Vandalism==
{{Main|Vandalism of Michelangelo's Pietà}}
[[File:Pietà vaticana dopo il vandalismo, 1972.jpg|thumb|A detail view of the statue with damaged arm, nose and eye, May 1972]]
The most substantial damage occurred on 21 May 1972 ([[Pentecost]] Sunday), when a mentally disturbed geologist, the Hungarian-born Australian Laszlo Toth, walked into the chapel and attacked the sculpture with a [[geologist's hammer]] while shouting, "I am Jesus Christ; I have risen from the dead!"<ref>{{cite news|title=Time Essay: Can Italy be Saved from Itself?|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905967,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022182752/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905967,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2010|work=Time Magazine U.S.|publisher=Time Inc.|access-date=26 August 2012|date=June 5, 1972}}</ref> With 15 blows he removed Mary's arm at the elbow, knocked off a chunk of her nose, and chipped one of her eyelids.

An American national, [[Bob Cassilly]] from [[St. Louis, Missouri]] was one of the first people to remove Toth from the ''Pietà''. He recalled the following events:

{{Blockquote| "I leaped up and grabbed the guy by the beard. We both fell into the crowd of screaming Italians. It was something of a scene."<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'neill |first1=Anne-arie |title=Creature Features |url=https://people.com/archive/creature-features-vol-48-no-23/ |website=People Magazine |access-date=15 September 2019}}</ref> }}

Onlookers took many of the pieces of marble that flew off. Later, some pieces were returned, but many were not, including Mary's nose, which had to be reconstructed from a block cut out of her back.

After the attack, the work was painstakingly restored and returned to its place within the basilica, just to the right of the entrance, between the [[holy door]] and the altar of [[Saint Sebastian]], and is now protected by a bulletproof [[acrylic glass]] panel.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vatican-pieta-idUSBRE94K0KU20130521|title=Vatican marks anniversary of 1972 attack on Michelangelo's Pieta|date=2013-05-21|work=Reuters|access-date=2019-09-03|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Pietà]]
* Asteroid [[274472 Pietà]]
* [[Replicas of Michelangelo's Pietà|Replicas of Michelangelo's ''Pietà'']]
* [[List of statues of Jesus]]
* [[List of works by Michelangelo]]
* [[List of Vatican City-related articles]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* [[Pope-Hennessy, John]] (1996). ''Italian High Renaissance and Baroque Sculpture''. London: Phaidon
* [[Hibbard, Howard]]. 1974. ''Michelangelo''. New York: Harper & Row.
* [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt%2013:55-56&version=31 Matthew 13:55–56] Passage Lookup – New International Version BibleGateway.com
* Wallace, William E. (2009). ''Michelangelo; the Artist, the Man, and his Times''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0521111994}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Pietà of the Saint Peter's Basilica by Michelangelo Buonarroti}}
* [http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_pietro/vr_tour/Media/VR/St_Peter_Pieta/index.html vatican.va]
* [https://www.michelangelo.org/pieta.jsp 10 Facts That You Don't Know About Michelangelo's ''Pietà'']
* [http://www.la-pieta.org/_page_/gallery/photorama Robert Hupka's ''Pietà'' Picture gallery]
* [http://michelangelomodels.com/m-models/pieta_arm.html Models of wax and clay used by Michelangelo in making his sculpture and paintings]

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{{Michelangelo|sculpture}}
{{High Renaissance}}
{{Vatican City topics}}
{{Sculptures}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pieta (Michelangelo)}}
[[Category:1499 works]]
[[Category:1490s sculptures]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Michelangelo]]
[[Category:Vandalized works of art in Italy]]
[[Category:Sculptures in Vatican City]]
[[Category:St. Peter's Basilica]]
[[Category:Marble sculptures]]
[[Category:Nude sculptures of men]]
[[Category:Sculptures of the Pietà]]
[[Category:1964 New York World's Fair]]