MICHELANGELO’S FLORENTINE PIETA: A CATALOG ENTRY
Name
Institution
Instructor
Course
Basic Information
Artist: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (aka Michelangelo)
Title: The Florentine Pieta/The Deposition/The Lamentation of the Dead Christ/Bandini Pieta
Date: ca. 1547-1555
Material: Marble
Size:226 cm or 89in.
Current Location: Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.
Michelangelo’s Florentine Pieta Michelangelo’s Florentine Pieta (ca.1547-1555) is a 226cm, marble sculpture depicting the scene where Christ’s body is released to his mother, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea. As such, the iconography is classic Renaissance in terms of representing religious figures using sculpturing techniques and materials (marble in this case) previously applied in Greco-Roman art such as proportionality, balance and enhanced realism using marble thus significantly contrasting from the larger than life representations of religious figures that defined medieval sculptures. However, Michelangelo did include a larger than life representation of the figure representing Joseph of Arimathea. Moreover, the identity of the hooded figure believed to be Joseph of Arimathea remains …show more content…
However, historical accounts indicate that Mary Magdalene’ representation was actually included by Tiberio Calcagni, a sculptor commissioned by Francesco Bandini to restore the sculpture after Michelangelo grew frustrated by its state sold it to Bandini . As such, Michelangelo’s reason for including an exaggerated, larger additional figure suggests he wanted to include himself in his pieta but somehow grew frustrated by the result to the extent he attempted to destroy and disposed of the incomplete composition soon
Name
Institution
Instructor
Course
Basic Information
Artist: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (aka Michelangelo)
Title: The Florentine Pieta/The Deposition/The Lamentation of the Dead Christ/Bandini Pieta
Date: ca. 1547-1555
Material: Marble
Size:226 cm or 89in.
Current Location: Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.
Michelangelo’s Florentine Pieta Michelangelo’s Florentine Pieta (ca.1547-1555) is a 226cm, marble sculpture depicting the scene where Christ’s body is released to his mother, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathea. As such, the iconography is classic Renaissance in terms of representing religious figures using sculpturing techniques and materials (marble in this case) previously applied in Greco-Roman art such as proportionality, balance and enhanced realism using marble thus significantly contrasting from the larger than life representations of religious figures that defined medieval sculptures. However, Michelangelo did include a larger than life representation of the figure representing Joseph of Arimathea. Moreover, the identity of the hooded figure believed to be Joseph of Arimathea remains …show more content…
However, historical accounts indicate that Mary Magdalene’ representation was actually included by Tiberio Calcagni, a sculptor commissioned by Francesco Bandini to restore the sculpture after Michelangelo grew frustrated by its state sold it to Bandini . As such, Michelangelo’s reason for including an exaggerated, larger additional figure suggests he wanted to include himself in his pieta but somehow grew frustrated by the result to the extent he attempted to destroy and disposed of the incomplete composition soon