"Rondanini Pietà" by Michelangelo
Michelangelo worked on the “Rondanini Pietà” (1552-1564), still unfinished, until the last days of his life. The pietà subject (which typically features a sorrowful Mary with a dead Christ strewn across her lap) is a running theme in Michelangelo’s oeuvre. Michelangelo first explored the subject at the young age of 23 when he produced the “Vatican Pietà” (1498-1499) and again when he sculpted the “Bandini Pietà” (c. 1547–55) at age 72. He revisited the subject with the “Rondanini Pietà,” the great artist’s last sculpture, carved for his own funerary monument. Tragic and frail in appearance, the sculpture is often interpreted as reflecting the fragile state of mind of an extraordinary artist in the twilight of his life. The “Rondanini Pietà” is on display at Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy.
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