The Florentine Pieta

I love Michelangelo. If there was one person past/present/future I would like to meet, it’s him.

On Monday I went to visit my favorite sculpture by Michelangelo. It’s known as the Florentine Pieta, and you can find it in the Museo dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.



Why is this sculpture so important to me? Glad you asked. I fell in love with this sculpture four years ago in art history, when I researched and wrote an annotated bibliography on the piece.

First of all, this piece is Michelangelo’s last and it was originally intended for his funerary monument. He worked on it when he was in his 70s! The sculpture includes four figures: Jesus (missing his leg- did you even notice?), Mary the mother of Christ, Mary Magdalene, and a hooded man holding up Christ’s body. This man is either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea, and experts believe it is Michelangelo’s self-portrait.

It is important and emotional for me when I see this sculpture because of the events surrounding Michelangelo while he worked on this piece. He was a very complex man, with a range of emotions. Normally known to be grumpy and kind of rude, Michelangelo was not pleasant to be around. Which is one of the reasons I want to give him a big hug. He lost his mom at a very young age and never married. Some believe he was homosexual, which may in fact be true.

But at the point in his life when he was working on this sculpture, I think Michelangelo was in a different stage in his life. He was very close to a woman named Vittoria Colonna who was involved in a group known as the Viterbo circle. Some think through their friendship, she may have been like Michelangelo’s spiritual mentor. The Viterbo circle wanted to reform the church and prevent the split between Catholics and Protestants, and firmly believed in the concept of justification by faith. (as opposed to works)

In this same vein, Nicodemus was often the model for believers (called “Nicodemists”) who outwardly conformed to Catholicism, but inwardly sympathized with some of the ideas of Protestant reformers. The followers of the Viterbo group would be considered Nicodemists.

And then there are the losses in his life. Michelangelo was very upset during the creation of this piece. His dear friend Pietro Urbino died, and then Vittoria Colonna also died while he was working on the sculpture. Some predict these losses in his life increased his desire for salvation and made him more aware of his own mortality.

That was the spiritual and emotional climate behind the piece. But then there is the question of why wasn’t it finished? Why is Jesus missing a leg? And who is the hooded figure?

The four figures were carved out of one single enormous block or marble, which can present many issues on its own. Many scholars believe the leg of Christ was removed by Michelangelo after he came across a bad vein in the marble. After the leg was removed, Michelangelo attacked the sculpture piece, breaking off the Madonna’s left arm, both of Christ’s arms, and Mary Magdalene’s right arm. Obviously, people assume it was the anger and emotions built up into the statue like I mentioned before. Others just say it was the end of Michelangelo’s patience because he was unable to suffer error. Whatever it is- I think this piece is so much more interesting because Michelangelo himself damaged the sculpture and walked away from it. (Possibly because someone stopped him and took the statue away.)

What a sad, tortured soul! I want to bake him cookies.

The last question of the hooded figure- some believe it is Joseph of Arimathea because he was the man who gave up his own tomb for Christ, and this connects to Michelangelo’s motive to use this piece as his funerary monument. I personally believe it is Nicodemus based on the religious beliefs of Michelangelo at the time. Some researchers have said Nicodemus was a sculptor in his time, further supporting this belief.

And this was just one sculpture. Isn’t art just amazing? I am sorry if I wrote too much, but this is really a piece of art close to my heart. Because it involves someone I care about (yes, I care about Michelangelo) and his quest to seek the Truth. I hope and pray that he did, in fact, find it.