Pieta

Michelangelo carved the Pietà between 1498 and 1499, depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead Christ after the Crucifixion. The marble sculpture achieves an impossible balance of grief and serenity, with Mary's youthful face expressing quiet sorrow.

Completed when Michelangelo was just twenty-four, it remains the only work he ever signed. The polished marble surfaces and idealized figures represent the High Renaissance at its peak. The sculpture stands in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, protected by glass since 1972 after an attack damaged it.