Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti
Title: The Pieta
Medium: marble statue
Date: completed in 1499
Provenance: St. Peter's Basilica
Source: Rome.info

Description: This is a sculpture of Jesus and Mary with Jesus laying across her lap. The marble is a light creamy color and has a shiny texture. Mary has her face downcast and her left hand outstretched while her other hand supports Jesus. Mary is draped in a cloth dress and the material wraps around her chest and legs.

Analysis:
-This is a 3-D sculpture and you can see the body shapes of Mary and Jesus. The artist studied to form of a human body in order to have Jesus draped over Mary
-Your eye goes directly to the figure Mary is holding in her arms or Mary's face. These are the important components of the stature because it explains the scene when Jesus is taken off the cross and the message of sadness yet hope she felt.
-The statue is appears to be smooth to the touch and it would have a hard, shiny feel to it.
-The viewer's eye travels down the artwork along with the large cloth Mary is holding to support Jesus. This was placed there so the viewer can see that the person is the Son of God and they can recognize the scene.
-The overlapping of dressing on Mary makes the folds stand out and appear more plentiful. The artist also used a triangle shape to being geometric figures into such a life-life sculpture.
-Each figure (Mary and Jesus) is close to a real human's size.

Interpretation: This statue is meant to express sadness and show motherly care. The way Mary cradles her son shows the lines that curved and reached toward Jesus in her clothing. The balance of proportions between Mary and Jesus even out the piece of artwork. The smoothed out edges show this piece was not meant to be severely thought provoking, just a scene of when Jesus was being held by his mother

Judgement: I believe this is one of the most beautifully crafted religious statues ever. It reminds me of the way my own mother used to hold me as a baby when I was first born. It invokes a feeling of sadness yet stunning hope. The artist successfully created this scene to be tragic and gorgeous.