Pieta

Today we visited that Vatican and I became extremely interested in one piece in particular, the Pieta. It blew my mind that they had to put this behind bulletproof glass so I read about it in Rick Steve's “Rome 2009” and found out that in 1972 a man came at the sculpture with a hammer, leading to the protective glass being put in front of it. Upon further reading on the sculpture itself I also learned that this is Michaelangelo's only piece in which he inscribed his name, which is inscripted on Mary's ribbon. I learned a lot in the reading, Michaelangelo who left much of his work unfinished had this one done by the age of 24. He put extraordinary detail into it, such can be told by the way that Jesus arm hangs low to show his “dead” weight. Also the value and interpretation behind the size of Mary, and both the impossible youth she was sculpted with. It is almost as if she is holding her baby child, and in a way that is what the artist was trying to show. In one book they refer to her as a mother who looks younger than her son.

1. http://crazymindseye.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/pieta4.jpg
2. Rick Steve's Rome 2009