Michelangelo's Pietà

The bronzed resin statues, hand-finished in every detail, masterfully portray the greatest works of art of all time. The statue is made entirely in Italy and has a truly impressive level of detail. Its size is suited to a desk or a piece of furniture; it is very imposing and has a solid weight.

Height 26 cm - Weight 1.2 kg (2.6 lb)

Michelangelo's Pietà, displayed in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, is a marble sculpture made between 1497 and 1499, recognised as the first masterpiece of the artist, then in his twenties. It is the only work signed by Michelangelo, with his signature on the sash running across the Virgin's chest that holds her mantle.

Commissioned by the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères, Michelangelo personally chose the marble from the Carrara quarries for this work, which may originally have been intended for a funerary monument. The sculpture was moved several times within St Peter's Basilica before reaching its current position in 1749. In 1964 it was exhibited at the New York World's Fair, attracting great interest.

In 1972 the Pietà was badly damaged in a vandal attack by László Tóth, a Hungarian-Australian geologist. Under the coordination of Deoclecio Redig de Campos, the restoration used the original fragments and a paste of glue and Carrara marble dust. Since then it has been protected by a bulletproof glass wall.

Stylistically, Michelangelo breaks with the rigid tradition of depicting the Pietà, creating a pyramidal composition in which the figures of Mary and Jesus merge in an intimate embrace, marked by unique realism and expressiveness. The youthfulness of the Madonna, a subject of debate, is interpreted by Michelangelo as a symbol of chastity and incorruptibility, linked more to its symbolic meaning than to the literal narrative of Christ's death.