Extra Credit Blog

Extra Credit Blog

Michelangelo’s Pieta

                                                           

          Michelangelo was born in the small Italian village of Caprese on March 6, 1475.  He was the son of a government administrator and became an apprentice to the famous artist Domenico Ghirlandaio at the young age of 13. After about a year or so of apprenticing he stopped painting and decided to begin working as a sculptor. He carved the marble sculpture Pieta when he was just 23 years old, the term “pieta” means pity in Italian.  This sculptural piece took approximately two years to complete.  This sculpture shows Mary holding the dead, lifeless body of her son Jesus after he was removed from the cross. This piece was the first of many larger than life statues Michelangelo created. The Pieta is the only piece of work which Michelangelo signed and is located in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

            This statue is in the shape of a pyramid, Mary’s head forms the highest point and serves as the vertex to he remaining portion of the sculpture. This pieces is not well proportioned, Mary is substantially larger than Christ.  This was done because it was hard for Michelangelo to depict a full grown man in a woman’s lap. However Michelangelo was able to pull this off by depicting Mary as wearing a full length robe which consisted of layers of folded drapery.  Mary is depicted as a beautiful young woman, very different from what her actual age would have been at the time of the Christ’s death. There have been many theories as to why she was shown this way, however I feel that it is best described as a depiction of her incorruptible purity.

            Throughout time the Pieta has sustained some damage. During a move four of the fingers on Mary's left hand were broken off.  They were restored in 1736 by Giuseppe Lirioni. The worst damage occurred on May 21, 1972.  A mentally ill man named Laszlo Toth walked into the chapel and attacked the sculpture with a hammer while repeatedly shouting "I am Jesus Christ.".  Some of the witnesses took pieces of marble which flew off as he struck it with the hammer. Some of the pieces were returned later on, but many were not, including Mary's nose.  This eventually had to be reconstructed from a piece of marble cut out of her back..  After the attack, the statue was meticulously restored and returned to its place in St. Peter's where it is now protected by a bullet-proof glass.

Michelangelo was an amazing artist who worked until his death in 1564 at the age of 88. In addition to his major pieces of art work, he also produced several sculptures, architectural designs, fresco's and drawings.  Many of his pieces are unfinished and some were unfortunately lost. Michelangelo was also famous for his poetry; about three hundred of his poems have been preserved. In his lifetime, he was celebrated as Europe's greatest living artist, and today he is held up as one of the greatest multi talented artists of all time.

References

1. http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/michelangelo-pieta.html
2. http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta.htm
3. http://www.askmichelangelo.com/

I love it all.......but if I had to choose

            After reviewing all of the artwork that we studies this quarter, I found that I am drawn to a wide variety of artists and styles, however one in particular which I enjoyed learning about is Jan van Eyck. The Ghent Alter Piece is truly amazing visually; I am intrigued by the amount of pieces (24) it took make up the 11 by 15 foot composition.  I love how this alter piece is not only beautiful when it is open, but when it is closed as well.  Jan van Eyck had a great eye for detail and dimensional perspective; I love his technical ability with the use of color, light and shadow and realism. This piece really encourages the viewer’s eye to move throughout the piece. I am not a religious person therefore I mostly appreciate the attention to detail which Eyck as depicted within the secular objects.  The fountain, the clothes and jewels, nature throughout  the scene, the landscape in the background are all painted with remarkable detail. Being a painter myself I know first hand how much time, patience and work goes into a simple composition, I am completely floored with the overwhelming size and beauty of this particular piece. When I see amazing pieces like this I feel validated as an artist and inspired to continue with my passion of painting.
      Michelangelo was an amazing artist as well, I absolutely fell in love with the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

As with the Ghent Alter Piece, this piece is visually overwhelming (in a good way).  The Sistine Chapel ceiling is a work of art like no other I have ever seen before. There is so much to look at, over 300 figures within this whole composition. My favorite scene out of all the paintings is the Creation of Adam.

      I admire Michelangelo as an artist becuase he had many talents, not only was he a painter,  he was an architect, poet, sculpter and engineer as well.  He was considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, it has been said that he is one of the greatest artists of all time.

 I think it's amazing that two of his sculptures the Pieta and David were completed before he was 30 years old. The Pieta (pictured above) is amazing because it looks so life like. The detail within this piece is done masterfully, the folds and layers of Marys garb, the body proportions, and the pose in which each is positioned create a truely dramatic three dimensional scene.  I have never carved stone, however I know people who have, I cannot even fathom how long this piece took to make (start to finish). I like how there is a real sense of emotional heaviness, as well as gravitational weight with his dead limp body laying across her lap.

     I would have to say that for me the attention to detail is the most important quality within a piece of art.  The more detail there is I am drawn in,  I feel compelled to become inthralled and focused on the emotion which the artist was trying to convey when he/she made it.  I feel a connection with the artist when I get wrapped up emotionally in a piece of fine art.