Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Michelangelo’S Rondanini Pietà: Construction, Creation, And Sculptural Meditation, Heidi Pyper, Elliott D. Wise

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I organized this research project to better understand Michelangelo’s final work and sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, which contains an upright Jesus supported from behind by Mary (Fig. 1). Michelangelo labored on the sculpture up until the last days of his life, and it has even been suggested by John Paoletti that it was meant for the altar of his burial chapel.1The Pietà subject depicts the apocryphal moment following the Crucifixion, when Christ was removed from the cross and placed in Mary’s embrace. Devotionally, the Pietà aids spiritual contemplation and prayer.