The sculpture Michelangelo created for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1498–1499 is the Pietà.
Michelangelo’s Pietà shows the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus after the Crucifixion. He carved it from a single block of Carrara marble for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres, who commissioned it for a chapel at Old St. Peter’s. The work was completed when Michelangelo was in his early twenties and helped establish his reputation as a major sculptor.
The composition is a pyramid-like arrangement, with Mary’s broad drapery supporting Christ’s body. Michelangelo made Mary appear youthful, which has often been interpreted as an idealized image of spiritual purity rather than a literal depiction of her age. The sculpture is also unusual because it bears Michelangelo’s signature: “MICHAEL ANGELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTINUS FACIEBAT.”
The Pietà is now displayed behind protective glass in St. Peter’s Basilica. A visitor attacked it with a hammer in 1972, damaging the face and arm; restorers repaired it, and the barrier has remained in place.