Which Renaissance sculptor created the Pietà in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome?

Michelangelo created the Pietà in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He sculpted the marble group between 1498 and 1499, when he was in his early twenties, after receiving the commission from the French cardinal Jean de Bilhères.

The sculpture shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus after the Crucifixion. Michelangelo presented Mary as remarkably youthful, a deliberate idealization associated with her purity and freedom from sin. The work was carved from a single block of Carrara marble.

Unlike many Renaissance sculptures, the Pietà is signed. Michelangelo reportedly added his name after hearing visitors attribute the work to another artist. His signature appears on the sash crossing Mary’s chest. The sculpture was originally made for a cardinal’s funerary monument before being moved to St Peter’s Basilica.

This work is often distinguished from Michelangelo’s later Florentine Pietà and Rondanini Pietà, which are separate, unfinished or late sculptures. The Vatican Pietà remains one of the best-known achievements of High Renaissance sculpture.