Michelangelo Buonarroti's Sculpture

Michelangelo Buonarroti's sculpture, Pieta depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. It is an important work as it balances the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism. The statue is one of the most highly finished works by Michelangelo and the only work of art signed. Michelangelo however; did not want to portray Jesus as a battered, sacrificed man representing death but rather show the love and compassion of Mary, a mother and follower of God.

Mary portrays (depicts) a very youthful face, filled with emotion as her drapery conceals much of her body, holding Jesus with one arm, relaxed, even though Jesus body would have just been brought down from the cross. It develops the interpretation of her incorruptible purity just as Michelangelo saw the Virgin Mary, young and a symbol of pureness and closeness to God. As the statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to the base, her drapery develops the feeling of a fully-grown man, cradled by his mother. Rather than interpreting Mary as an older women in her fifties Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pieta was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary.

The structure is pyramidal, and the 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. Mary's monumental drapery conceals much of her body, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural. Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pieta was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than an older woman around 50 years of age.