Michelangelo and his Pietà...

6:55 p.m.

03/20/17 - At the Museo dell’Opera of the Duomo in Florence there's a Pietà that Michelangelo did between 1547 and 1555. It is believed he sculpted it as a funerary monument for his own grave.  However, half-way, he found imperfections in the marble. His frustration was such that he mutilates the artwork and abandons it. Years later, he goes back to it and finishes the piece with four figures. In the back we see Saint Nicodemus (one of the men who brought down Christ from the cross), holding Jesus' dead body. Michelangelo represented himself in Nicodemus' features. This is why this is considered the most intimate of his Pietàs, because it reflects his devotion to Jesus, confirmed also by the sonnets he wrote in those years.



Pietà, by Michelangelo Buonarroti (ca. 1547-1555)
Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.
Very close to the Duomo's Museum it's the Galleria dell' Academia, which displays the "Pietà from Palestrina". The artwork is surrounded by suppositions and was moved from one place to the other, till it finally found it's place next to the David. Still today experts doubt whether it was really sculpted by Michelangelo. It is attributed to other artists, among them Bernini, who, it is said, sculpted the piece as a tribute to his teacher.


The Piedad from Palestrina 
Marble / Measures: 250 cm de altura
Galleria Dell Accademia, Florence.
The truth is that the Pietà is a central and repeated subject in Michelangelo's career, specially in the final years of his life. The differences between both sculptures are considerable and there's still mystery surrounding the second one. Some day we might confirm if it was truly done by the Italian Master.

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Liliana Wrobel


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