Shop art print and framed art La Pieta by Michelangelo Buonarroti

The Pietà (pronounced: [pje?ta]) is a marble statue by Michelangelo in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in Rome, depicting the biblical theme of the "sorrowful Virgin Mary" (Mater dolorosa in Latin or Pietà), holding in her lap the body of Christ coming down from the Cross before his Entombment, Resurrection and Ascension. It was sculpted between 1498 and 1499. This sculptural group was commissioned by the French cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, also known as Jean Villiers de la Groslaye, abbot of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, cardinal and French ambassador to the Pope. It was made through the intermediary of Michelangelo's Roman patron and protector, the banker Jacopo Galli. The contract, dated 27 August 1498, stipulated a payment of four hundred and fifty gold ducats in pontifical currency. The sculpture was intended to adorn the funerary monument in memory of the late king Charles VIII, who died on 7 April 1498, in the Santa Petronilla chapel, known as the "Chapel of the Kings of France" in the ancient basilica of Saint Peter. The sculptor chose to create it in Carrara marble from the Polvaccio quarry, which he selected for its creamy flesh colour. To meet the contract deadline of August 1499, Michelangelo worked twenty hours a day on a single block of marble. Working with a chisel and sculpture hammer, he polished the marble with pumice stone for weeks so that it would shine in the dark chapel. As it was to be displayed from the front, he left the back unfinished. [...]

 

This artwork is a photography from the contemporary period. It belongs to the documentary photography style.

 

Find the full description of La Pieta by Michelangelo Buonarroti on Wikipedia.