Michelangelo Pieta Drawing

The Madonna della Pietà informally known as La Pietà, is a marble sculpture of Jesus and Mary at Mount Golgotha representing the "Sixth Sorrow" of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Michelangelo Buonarroti, now in Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. It is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture and often taken as the start of the High Renaissance. This "Pieta" is the only Michelangelo artwork bearing the artist's name. Pieta is the most important sculpture of the high renaissance. First of all, it relativizes time. The Virgin becomes the same age as her son to serve the narrative of the composition. 2. The marble volumes are equivalent but not the same. Optical composition uses vertical axes that intersect so that contrast begets recomposition. The anatomy is on a human level and not monumental. The abdominal muscles are contracting so that we conclude that we are close to the event and the body is still warm. For the first time in sculpture, an artist removes deathly rigidity with such skill. There are dozens of other reasons why la pieta is a unique masterpiece. For this he will forever be an object of study and admiration.