Virgin Mary

Faith from the heart seems to be lost when a form of idolatry is created to be a God. It is a misconception to worship another god that actually has no connection of miracles or righteousness to a person. As a child, I was a Catholic who believed Virgin Mary was another God, but that changed when I was exposed to evidence which led me to be closer to only God as a Christian.

After Michelangelo moved to Rome, one of the cardinals within the catholic church commissioned him to create a sculpture called ‘‘La Pieta.’’ ‘‘La Pieta’’ was sculpted from a single piece of marble stone and it was a representation of Christ and his mother Mary. This 6 foot by 6 foot sculpture only took 1 year for Michelangelo to complete it. The sculpture quickly became known for all the details that included the folding of the cloths, the ribs, and the bones which are incredibly difficult to sculpt.

Created in 1489 this masterpiece is made out of pure marble. This sculpture is located in the Vatican City. At first glance this sculpture looks like child dead in a mother's arms, which is correct but there is more too it. The sculpture represents the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Its shows his mother Mary holding him and he lays there dead. A very little detail that usually goes unnoticed is that Mary is not touching her son directly, but a cloth is between the two. This signifies the Higher Renaissance belief in Neoplatonic, that the beauty on earth signifies God's beauty. This masterpiece is not only amazing by the meaning but the glorious detail that Michelangelo was able to go into with practically a hammer and chisel.

Michelangelo’s art, which relied heavily on the human body reflected the Renaissance Period’s interest in humanism and the individual experience. Michelangelo often studied the human anatomy, and even looked at and dissected corpses. Great examples of this are two of his earlier sculptures; the Pietå and the David, revealed his true talent and also his disposition to bend rules of anatomy and proportion i the service of greater expressive power. His ability to portray humans in the Renaissance Period, which was his great talent, showing the values of the period though his sculptures and paintings, which appealed to the people of this period. Arguably his most well known work, the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which was painted to show humanity’s need for salvation offered by God through Jesus.

Mary is wearing a large, dark blue robe that rests upon the floor as she kneels. A portion of it is suspended onto the stand from which she reads a book. The book’s pages are opened in an unrealistic manner, with a few pages seemingly stuck in one position. What little of her figure that is visible is oddly proportioned, with a plump

To begin with, the word pieta is an Italian word that means “compassion”. This theme arose in Germany in different sculptures showing the sense suffering that Mary had when she saw her son’s martyrdom. This theme succeeded in pictorializing and recalling the moment of the Christ’s death in the worshippers’ minds which was considered an important matter in the medieval mysticism. The body’s composition reveals a formal and psychological tension to engage the audience with the sculpture (Little, etal, 20). This subject was born when artists imagined the events that occurred right after the Christ was deposed from the cross. Additionally, this theme occured in a time when people were asking for a “direct contact” with the divine which was a in demand especially after the Black Death, the plague, that swept that swept through Europe killing 2/3rds of the population spurring a religious revival. The theme of pieta started under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, in the thirteenth century, and this influence had a strong connection to local contemporary devotional literature, and the mystical movement centered in Byzantine.”(Wixom, 35). The sculpture was made in the late medieval, which was a time of having religious narrations in different countries providing the details of the birth of Christ, his crucifixion, and his mother’s and public’s reaction on his death. Plus, medieval age also shed the light on the emotions and divinity giving it a lot of attention in art. The place of the pieta sculptures was in the church, and they probably intended to be placed for the intimate setting of a side or secondary altar. (Wixom,

civilization that was once rich with skill and vision derived from the decor elements untamed by age coexists in his art form. Amongst the tribes the Keres, Tompiros, Tewas, Tiwas, Towas, Piros, Zuni, as well as Utes, Navajos, and Apaches all have similar villages. The word pueblos came from villages in Spanish. Ultimately the rulers of Santa Fe received a warning before the revolt broke out.

Michelangelo’s creation is his interpretation of the biblical figure of David. “The brave David stands in a tense manner, with one leg relaxed while the other holds its total body weight. Hence, this causes his shoulders and hips to rest at an opposite angle. Moreover, David’s head turns towards his left, and he is carrying a sling at his back. With all these features, many people regard the sculpture as a symbol of youthful beauty and human strength (History).” “Michelangelo’s hero is at rest, in a moment of calm anticipation before confronting Goliath (Sayre, 327).” The lack of movement and straight posture shows balance and clarity within the sculpture, which is why most people would consider this piece of art work ethos. “In contrast, Bernini’s sculpture captures the young hero in the midst of action. David’s body twists in an elaborate spiral, creating dramatic contrasts of light and shadow. His teeth are clenched, and his muscles strain as he prepares to launch the fatal rock (Sayre, 327).” Bernini’s David uses the characteristic of emotion and motion to label his sculpture as pathos. “Bernini’s David uses the space around it – reaching out into the space of

Mary trembled due to the caffeine racing through her veins. Mary was always afraid. She was afraid of not being good enough. She was afraid of not meeting her parent’s expectations. Being less than Coeus, her brother. But, these were not ungrounded fears as they were based on truth. From the day Mary was born it was pounded into her tiny little brain that she was not as good as Coeus. She remembered her parent looking down on her for not getting grades as high as Coeus. No matter how she tried she was not good enough. Coeus’s existence was the reason she was locked in this room.

Article #1 first discusses how the piece uses a tilma, or a woven cloak, as the canvas for the creation of the Virgin of Guadalupe painting. The tilma uses two different types of fabric and could be described as a cape-like due to its length. The native painters used tempera and oil to create the painting on the cloth piece. Guadalupe's skin color and black hair are both important factors to consider during the interpretation of the painting, as no other image in the Spain had depicted Mary in this way. However, over the years, the image has been altered quite a bit due to cracks and fading of color in the painting. Her artistic meaning contained such as powerful message that she was also used by sailors in overseas missions as a means for

The Gothic ivory statuette is of the Virgin Mary standing in a vertical composition. Mary’s body pushes against the force of gravity; she seems tall and strong. The nature of the vertical composition forces the viewer to look at the image from top to bottom. As we examine Mary, she feels natural and relaxed because she stands with most of her weight shifted to one side, creating a contrapposto. This pose, though asymmetrical, provides balance when we consider the figure cradled on her hip. The Christ child sits, pressed into Mary’s side and supported by her left arm. Christ grasps the flowing folds of his mother’s veil in one hand, and in the other, he holds a fruit. Together, these figures create a triangle. Mary’s head forms the apex of the triangle where her right arm and Christ form the base corners. Mary dominates the tip of the composition, and she serves as the vertical component. The vertical nature of the piece impacts how the viewer interacts with the piece. The statuette seems to ascend, or refer to the heavens. The composition acts as a reminder that this piece holds a holy or spiritual

Another one of Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpieces known as Pieta was created between 1498 and 1499. This masterpiece was displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. The Pieta depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus Christ after His crucifixion. Like Michelangelo’s famous sculpture David, his masterpiece Pieta has also been re-created many times by other painters and sculptors.

He took the body of Michelangelo’s Pieta (1500) and used it to create the body of Saint Teresa. However, Saint Teresa is clothed in flowing garments that depict her inner turmoil whereas Jesus is only wearing a cloth. The limp body of Saint Teresa demonstrates that she is giving her life over to God as the angel prepares to pierce her heart with the arrow. It represents that she is passing from one life into the next, a life full of God and the Holy Spirit, much as Jesus is passing from life on Earth into Heaven. Bernini also uses light to illuminate the body of Saint Teresa just as Michelangelo has done with Jesus. They both use light from the surrounding scene, but the difference is that Jesus is reflecting the light from around him due to the polishing and smoothness of the marble while in Bernini’s sculpture, the light comes from a window above to illuminate her face rather than her body that is clothed and creates shadows and

The Metropolitan Art Museum has a multitude of art galleries that hold a variety of art pieces that have their own share of stories. The artwork that I chose to dig into the story of is a piece that the museum credits to have been done by the High Renaissance artist, Michelangelo Buonarroti, himself. This particular work is a type of sculpture in which the figures is shown in a three-dimensional form, or freestanding sculpture, that is standing at a height and width of 37 x 13 ¼ and is made purely out of Carrara marble. The statue appears to no more than a young man, comparable to a putti, standing in the contrapposto position which gives it a certain look of

The piece of art is a statue that portrays Jesus’ body laying on his mother Mary’s laps at the time after the crucifixion having been removed from the cross (Lewis & Lewis, 2008) which is evidenced by the marks of small nails and the indication of the wound located in Jesus’ side. It revolves around the major theme of Northern origin which during that time was present in France but not in Italy. According to (St. Peters Basilica, 2009) Michelangelo offered a unique interpretation of the pieta to the models since it is a significant piece of work that balances the ideals of a new beginning incorporated in typical beauty and a touch of naturalism which is illustrated by the relationship exhibited by the figures. This is made possible by his skill to prove to both the viewers and himself of the supernatural beauty.