Marble Used For Pieta

It s been a favorite medium of.

Marble used for pieta.

The pieta is constructed from a single piece of carrara marble the same marble used for michelangelo s david the pantheon in rome the marble arch in london and the duomo di siena. Pieta took the artist many months to complete during the years of 1498 99. 1498 1500 marble michelangelo carved a number of works in florence during his time with the medici but in the 1490s he left florence and briefly went to venice bologna and then to rome where he lived from 1496 1501. Peter s basilica vatican city it is the first of a number of works of the same theme by the artist.

Michelangelo s pieta sculpture was created entirely in marble which was also what he used to create david and several other key sculptures. Specifically he used carrara marble a white and blue stone named for the italian region where it is mined. Carrara marble was used in the construction of some of ancient rome s most magnificent monuments including the pantheon and trajan s column which commemorates roman victories in dacia. For centuries the world has been captivated by the groundbreaking art of michelangelo working in multiple mediums the italian artist was a true renaissance man culminating in an impressive collection of world famous works that includes the sistine chapel ceiling an iconic interpretation of david and the pietà a monumental marble sculpture of the madonna cradling christ.

Giorgio vasari who claimed to have first hand knowledge a singular witness has described how michelangelo would immerse his wax models in water and gradually raise them up wile carving stone as the figure was revealed above the water line. He secured a block of carrara marble which he later claimed was the most perfect block of marble that he had ever used and began to chisel carefully transforming the stone into flesh. Michelangelo preferred carrara marble because he felt it had a luminous quality much like human skin. The statue was commissioned for the french cardinal jean de bilhères who was a representative in rome the sculpture in carrara marble was made for the.

1498 1499 is a work of renaissance sculpture by michelangelo buonarroti housed in st. The marble block was extracted by executing a deep cut in the marble cave in which metallic chisels were later inserted. Though this was a common technique of the time it was unlikely that the master used this method. It was moved to st.