Pietà, Carrara marble sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
The Pietà shows Mary holding the lifeless Christ across her lap, carved from a single block of Carrara marble. Christ lies horizontally with his head fallen back and right arm extended, while Mary's left hand opens in a gesture of acceptance.
French cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas commissioned the work in 1497 for his funeral chapel. Michelangelo completed it between 1498 and 1499 at age 24, while working in Rome.
The sash across Mary's chest carries Michelangelo's carved signature, "Michael A[n]gelus Bonarotus Florent[inus] Facieba[t]", the only work he ever signed. According to Vasari, he added it after overhearing visitors attribute the statue to Cristoforo Solari. Urban VIII granted the image a canonical coronation by papal bull on 14 August 1637, and the rite was carried out on 31 August 1637.
The sculpture sits behind bulletproof glass in the first chapel to the right of the basilica entrance. Visitors should arrive early in the morning to avoid crowds, as admission to the basilica is free.
On Pentecost Sunday 1972, Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian-born Australian geologist, struck the statue with a geological hammer, shouting that he was Jesus Christ. He removed about fifty marble fragments, breaking Mary's left arm and elbow and destroying her nose and eyelids. The restoration reused the original pieces, held together with glue and marble dust.
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