Michelangelos The Pieta (1) Michelangelos sculpture The Pieta stands out as one of the finest examples of spirit of Renaissance, embodied in marble. Therefore, it is quite impossible to discuss this great work of art, without understanding the metaphysical essence of Renaissance, as peoples subconscious longing towards the ancient Greek and Roman ideals of physical beauty and intellectual excellence, as opposed to Christian concept of destruction of flesh, which used to represent an aesthetic value during the course of Middle Ages. Ever since Christianity was given an official status in Roman Empire, Christian fanatics became preoccupied with destruction of Roman cultural legacy, thus trying to prove the strength of their religious beliefs to God. While doing it, they simultaneously began promoting their own aesthetic concepts the ideal if bodily perfection, embodied in Greek and Roman sculptures, was being replaced by essentially opposite ideal of physical and mental inadequateness. It was namely countless Christian saints (impotents, hunchbacks, lunatics) that people were being required to think of as their role models. This was the reason why, up until the beginning of Renaissance, European art remained anti-aesthetic, in its very essence, because the idea of physical beauty was being automatically associated by Christian clergy with sin.
In his article Italian Renaissance Sculpture, Stephan Bourgeois makes a perfectly good point when he suggests that: Christianity strived to annihilate the antique classical sculptures were smashed as idols in untold numbers as being too dangerous to the new faith to survive. By the time of the emperor Constantine, sculpture was practically dead, and, under the impact of the Mosaic law which dominated the mentality of the Middle Ages in Italy, sculpture did not survive for nearly a thousand years (Bourgeois, 1935, p. 7).
The Term Paper on Forms And Decorative Elements In Renaissance Architecture
What is the renaissance architecture? The answer lays in its very name- the word is originally French, from term la rinascita “to be reborn”. If we want to describe this era, we could say, that renaissance is “a self-conscious break with the past and search for the new forms of expression”. And it’s fully true- renaissance is an entirely new turn in the History of Architecture, but at the same ...
However, by the time Christianitys conceptual inconsistency started to become obvious to educated people in Europe, they naturally began freeing themselves of Christian ideological poison, while adopting ancient aesthetic ideals as their own. Michelangelo was one of such individuals. Even though most of his artistic works exploit Christian motifs, these works convey essentially an anti-religious message. Even a brief look at The Pieta confirms the validity of this statement. (2) Sculpture depicts dead Jesus being held by St.
Mary, after he was taken off the cross. Mary looks down on Jesus in rather calm and sublime manner, while appearing as not being particularly stricken by grief. In its turn, Jesus looks as if he had simply fallen asleep. What strikes us about this sculpture is the humanistic realism of the depicted scene – it is not only that both: Jesus and his mother are being presented as absolutely real individuals, but the whole sculptural composition hardly emanates the spirit of extreme sadness, which appears as being especially odd, given the conceptual context of this Michelangelos work. In their article The St. Peter’s “Pieta”: A Madonna and Child? An Anatomical and Psychological Reevaluation, Rumy Hilloowala and Jerome Oremland suggest that it does not make a whole lot of sense that, despite Michelangelos extensive knowledge of human anatomy (which explains the utter realism of The Pieta), he failed at depicting the reality of Jesus death: A body that has undergone considerable physical exertion just before death would be affected more quickly by stiffening Realistically, the body lying on Marys lap in a Pieta should be rigid with scourge marks, and not the unblemished, gracefully supine figure created by Michelangelo in his St.Peters representation (Oremland, Hiloowala, 1987, p.
87).
In her article Michelangelo and the Medieval Pieta: The Sculpture of Devotion or the Art of Sculpture?, Joanna Ziegler explains this by the fact that instilling viewers with the sense of religious sentimentalism was the last thing on Michelangelos mind, when he worked on The Pieta: Scholars repeat time and again that the artist (Michelangelo) has classicized and idealized otherwise tragic and emotive scene. This particular Michelangelos work was meant to serve humanistic rather then ritualistic purpose (Ziegler, 1995, p. 36).
The Term Paper on Jesus and Mary
During the last forty years, there has been an increased desire between Catholics and other Christians to discuss the theological positions that have separated us. The Catholic Church’s teachings on Mary have been a crucial element in the discussions that have taken place. There are many hopeful signs of mutual understanding, including a new appreciation for the Scriptural and Patristic ...
We can only agree even while working on the sculpture that closely relates to the theme of death, Michelangelo had consciously chosen not to emphasize this theme in The Pieta, thus proving himself as humanist, in full sense of this word. It is namely the uncompromised logic of humanism that defines the aesthetic spirit of Renaissance, as artistic and intellectual movement, which was prompting Europeans to seek their long lost true self. As such, this spirit was deeply anti-religious.
This is the reason why, while looking at Michelangelos artistic representation of St. Mary, we appreciate her primarily for the fact that she radiates female virtuousness (beauty and love), rather then for the fact that she has given birth to Jesus. In her article Mary’s Motherhood According to Leonardo and Michelangelo, Rona Goffen comes up with similar idea: Pensive or joyful, Marys sweet face answers the fundamental question of how the artist is to visualize the two female archetypes of virgin and mother, which are combined in the person of Madonna. Michelangelo gathers three feminine functions: daughter, wife, and mother within a totality (Goffen, 1999, p. 35).
In its turn, this strengthens our thesis as to the fact that The Pieta cannot be analyzed as such that has been inspired by Michelangelos utter sense of religiosity. Quite contrary given sculptures physical realism, it would not be an exaggeration, on our part, to suggest that Pietas apparent connection to Biblical fables is only a skin deep.
Despite the fact that, at the end of 15th century, when Pieta was created, the theological soundness of Christianity has been shaken off by scientists and even by theologists themselves, Catholic Inquisitors were still quite capable of sentencing heretics to death; therefore, European most prominent intellectuals, like Michelangelo, had no choice but to defend themselves from the attacks of Christian fanatics, but formally working on behalf of Church. However, given the artistic context of The Pieta, we can conclude that by depicting Mary and Jesus as physically perfect beings, Michelangelo was simply trying to secretly popularize the Socratic concept of immortality, as opposed to the Christian one. In her article Michelangelo’s Last Judgment: Resurrection of the Body and Predestination, Marcia B. Hall provides us with the insight onto Michelangelos hidden ideological agenda: The death of antique spirituality is associated with the doctrine of immortality of soul, based on reason, giving way tom the doctrine of the resurrection of body, based on scripture. In his works, Michelangelo strived to resurrect the ancient outlook on immortality, as deriving out of perfect attunement between body and the soul (Hall, 1976, p. 87).
The Term Paper on Artistic Innovations Of Renaissance Florentine Painters
Artistic Innovations of Renaissance Florentine Painters During the Renaissance, many new, different styles of painting were developed. Many of these techniques were perfected by Florentine painters. Some of these styles techniques include perspective, life-like human forms, realistic looking objects and chiaroscuro. These developments began to form in the early Quattrocento and were slowly ...
The issue of death never bothers mentally stable people too much, because their intellectual integrity allows them to perceive surrounding reality through the lenses of stoicism.
In its turn, peoples mental health derives out of their physical adequacy. Therefore, the fact that The Pieta emanates the aura of serenity has nothing to do with the story of resurrection, but namely with Jesus and St.Marys physical appearance. Apparently, Michelangelo wanted to show the perfect state of their bodies as such that is being adjusted to the perfect state of their souls. Thus, we can say that Michelangelos The Pieta promotes rather neo-Platonic then purely Christian outlook on life and death. This, more then anything else qualifies him for the title of Renaissance genius. (3) Many historians suggest that Michelangelo was being solemnly preoccupied with exploring his artistic creativeness, while paying little attention to a contemporary socio-political life in Italy. Such suggestions could not possibly be further from the actual truth.
Michelangelo was actively promoting an antique Greek idea of physical beauty as such that is being organically interconnected with ones state of mind, while constantly risking the chance of being accused of heresy. Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration, on our part; to refer to Michelangelo as to what he really was one among very few European creative geniuses who were able to break out of Christian intellectual imprisonment for the first time in modern history. Many of his artistic creations, such as The Pieta, continue to remain unsurpassed in aesthetic value even today. Nevertheless, it is doubtful of whether Michelangelo would be able to leave an unerasable mark in the history of art, without having familiarized himself with the artistic concepts of antiquity. Therefore, we can say that it is namely Michelangelos taste for broadening his intellectual horizons, coupled with his supreme artistic talent, which eventually deserved him a fame of mastermind of Renaissance.
The Essay on Renaissance Sculpture
A time of extraordinary beauty in the field of art was the period known as High Renaissance. There was a growing trend towards realism, and artists of the time aspired to achieve beauty, harmony and naturalism in their work. These qualities began to revolve around a movement called humanism, which was a philosophical school of thought that attached more importance to humans and less to God. In ...
Bibliography:
Bourgeois, S. (1935) Italian Renaissance Sculpture.
Parnassus, (7)3, 7-8 Goffen, R. (1999) Mary’s Motherhood According to Leonardo and Michelangelo. Artibus et Historiae, (20)40, 35-69. Hall, M. (1976) Michelangelo’s Last Judgment: Resurrection of the Body and Predestination. The Art Bulletin, (58)1, 85-92. Hilloowala, R.
and Oremland, J. (1987) The St. Peter’s “Pieta”: A Madonna and Child? An Anatomical and Psychological Reevaluation. Leonardo, (20)1, 87-92. Ziegler, J. (1995) Michelangelo and the Medieval Pieta: The Sculpture of Devotion or the Art of Sculpture? Gesta, (34)1, 28-36. Abstract: This paper discusses Michelangelos sculpture The Pieta in its relation to the concept of Renaissance. Outline: Introduction Main part Conclusion.
