Michelangelo is one of the greatest creators in the history of art. Most people recognize the genius for his beautiful sculpture "David" and his breathtaking paintings on the walls and ceiling of the Sistine chapel. However, along with his sculptures and paintings, Michelangelo was an accomplished poet and architect; which is a reflection of his amazing creative ability.Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, in a small Italian city, Caprese, but he spent a large portion of his life in Rome, Italy. It was there that Michelangelo created one of the most famous works of art, the marble sculpture, Pieta. A controversially youthful Mary is seated, holding the dead Christ across her lap. The mother holding her dead son does not have a look of sorrow on her face, but a look of restraint. The Pieta displays incredible detail from the young artist; Michelangelo was only 25 when he completed the masterpiece. Howard Hibbard, author of Michelangelo, writes that St. Bernardine of Siena described the Pieta asThe Virgin holding the body of her dead son, thinking back to the days in Bethlehem when he was a baby in her arms, dreaming that he has merely fallen asleep (45).Perhaps that was one of Michelangelo's artistic intentions of the religious sculpture. Another interesting passage suggests,God made truly human, now dead, whose body is Corpus Domini of Christian communion. His mother who is also, symbolically, the Church (Hibbard 46) holds him.Hibbard claims the preceding passage represents "a symbol of the mystery of Christianity," which could also be one of Michelangelo's intentions. Also, one characteristic of every Pieta, other than Michelango's, is the awkwardness of the Mother and child; the artist solved this common problem by draping Mary in long, flowing clothes and arranging the two bodies to form a pyramid. Michelangelo has had many influential people persuade his works. Hibbard states that with the Pieta,"We sense the debt t...
