MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
(b. 1475, Caprese, d. 1564, Roma)

Pietà

c. 1550
Marble, height 226 cm
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence

Michelangelo gave both the Brutus and the Florentine Pietà to Tiberio Calcagni (1532-1565) for completion. The condition of the Pietà is far from ideal. The left leg of Christ is missing and there are obvious repairs to other breaks. Nor is there agreement on the type and scope of Calcagni's intervention.

According to Vasari, the Florentine Pietà includes a self-portrait of the artist as Nicodemus and had originally been intended to surmount Michelangelo's own tomb.




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